Thai lumber companies have been shown the advantages of trading with US companies supplying softwoods. Source: USDA
The pine forests of Georgia and the Pacific Northwest are a far cry from the crowded streets of Bangkok, where shipments of US softwood products are headed thanks to a collaborative effort by the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), the Southern Forest Products Association and the Softwood Export Council.
In June 2014, executives from five Thai lumber companies visited the US under the auspices of FAS’s Cochran Fellowship Program.
Thanks to the knowledge they gained and the relationships they forged with the US softwood industry during their visit, several participants subsequently made first-time purchases of the softwood.
These initial purchases are a big step for US softwood producers to make headway into the US$58 million market in Thailand.
The Thai visitors received an extensive overview of the US wood products industry, focusing on everything from grading and treating of wood, to sawmill operations, to export regulations.
They toured nurseries, sawmills, a treatment plant, export warehouses, and even construction sites where they could see the softwood being put to use.
The participants credited the Cochran training with providing them a greater understanding of US softwood, even helping them better differentiate qualities of US softwood from similar products from New Zealand and Australia.
“The knowledge I gained from the Cochran softwood training program is very useful. I really want to learn more about US softwood species and applications of those species, and because of the training I plan on setting up an agent to facilitate my company’s requirement and inspection of U.S. lumber imports,” said Khomwit Boonthamrongkit, managing director of SBP Timber Group.
