The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries published the 2024 Wood Statistics, reporting that raw wood demand totaled 22.804 million cubic meters, down 865,000 cubic meters (3.7%) from the previous year, while the proportion of domestic wood in raw wood supply reached 88.1%, up 0.9 percentage points year-on-year.
The main factor behind the demand decrease was the decline in housing construction starts, with demand for wood for detached houses dropping significantly. By use, lumber use was 13.986 million cubic meters (down 5.2% year-on-year), plywood use was 3.481 million cubic meters (down 2.1%), and chip use was 4.689 million cubic meters (down 1.8%).
Domestic wood supply totaled 20.077 million cubic meters (down 2.8% year-on-year), but the domestic wood ratio increased because the decrease in imported wood was larger. By tree species, cedar accounted for 58.3% of domestic wood supply, followed by hinoki (19.2%) and karamatsu (8.7%).
By region, the Kyushu region accounted for 28.4% of national domestic wood supply, making it the largest supply region. In terms of prices, domestic wood prices rose 4.3% year-on-year, narrowing the price gap with imported wood. The wood self-sufficiency rate (timber) reached 45.2%, up 0.5 percentage points from 44.7% the previous year.
The article shows that despite the challenging environment of declining construction demand, the competitiveness of domestic wood and the increase in self-sufficiency rate are progressing.