U.S. Producers Appeals Chinese Plywood Ruling

A coalition of U.S. plywood manufacturers has appealed the U.S. Court of International Trade's ruling that dismissed their trade case against Chinese hardwood plywood.

The coalition originally filed suit in late 2012, alleging that Chinese imports are sold in the U.S. at prices below

New Chamber Intensifies Testing of Building Materials

Oregon State University has installed a new environmental chamber to test how building materials hold up under various conditions.

One of just three in the world-a second is in Germany and the third at the U.S. Forest Products Research Lab in Madison, Wi.-the new chamber is housed in OSU's Green Building Materials Laboratory in Corvallis, Or.

A typical environmental chamber

Quolity Western

cost and are subsidized by the government of China. After more than a year of investigation, on Nov. 5, 2013, the U.S. International Trade Commission unanimously dismissed the suit.

An appellate ruling from the U.S. court system is expected to take l8 to 24 months.

used in the industry consists of a single box that tests one type of environment at a time, in a process known as accelerated aging. The state-of-the-art chamber at OSU is capable of conducting several tests at the same time.

"Single environment chambers are very common, but the ability to simultaneously test materials like this, is what makes it really unique," said lab co-director Jason ldeker.

OSU's new chamber offers the capacity to deconstruct this barrier in a

Products

shorter amount of time to get new products from the development phase into production more reliably.

"The most fascinating thing for me with this new machine will be helping us to make the link between the very small scale accelerated testing we do in the lab and what is actually happening in the field," Ideker said.

He added, "We see this as a way that a start-up company in Oregon that maybe doesn't have the resources like this (machine), they can come to us and say, 'Hey, we've built this new material that we want to test out in the chamber and see the results."'

World Stays on Green Path

Green building material sales are forecast to grow 12.57o annually from $106.32 billion in 2012 to $234.77 billion by 2019, according to a new study by Transparency Market Research.

Key application segments analyzed in this study include framing, insulation, roofing, exterior siding, interior finishing, and other applications of green building materials.

The largest green product segment is insulation, a mature yet still-growing category. Roofing is second, but should fall, based on the expected rise of framing, exterior siding, and interior finishing products.

North America dominated the global market for green building materials in2Ol2, consuming more than 35Vo by volume, followed by Europe with 32Vo. The biggest growth is expected in Asia Pacific.

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West Coast Lumber & Building Material Association will host its annual Southern California golf tournament April 10 at Black Gold Golf Club, Yorba Linda, Ca.

Western Building Material Association drafted Willamette University coach Mark Speckman to keynote its 1 I lth annual convention Feb. 12-14 at Tulalip Resort, Marysville, Wa.

Also scheduled are Rick Davis' "Beat the Price Objection" sales workshop, remodeling insights by Craig Webb, Duane Knapp on building a brand, and the supplier networking/ product showcase.

Mountain States Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association has adopted "Things Are Taking Off' as the theme for its reformatted single-day Products Expo March 14 at the Crowne Plaza Denver International Airport/J.Q. Hammons Convention Center, Denver, Co.

MSLBMDA's Colorado Council gets rolling with its annual bowling tourney March 9 at Arapahoe Bowling Center, Greenwood Village, Co.

North American Wholesale Lumber Association welcomed Rick Ekstein, Weston Forest Products, Mississauga, Ont., as its new chairman during its recent mid-winter meeting.

Other new officers are lst vice chair Scott Elston, Forest City Trading Group, Portland, Or.; 2nd vice chairman Jim McGinnis, McGinnis Lumber Co., Meridian, Ms.; secretary/treasurer John Stockhausen, Snavely Forest Products, Pittsburgh, Pa.; immediate past chair Mike Phillips, Hampton Lumber Sales, Portland, Or., and president/c.e.o. Gary Vitale.

New to the board are Russ Hobbs, Plum Creek, Columbia Falls, Mt.; Rob Latham, Tri-State Forest Products, Springfield, Oh.; Dan Semsak, Pacific Woodtech, Burlington, Wa.; Bethany West, Capital Lumber, Healdsburg, Ca., and Donna Whitaker, Interfor, Baxley, Ga.

NAWLA's University of Industrial Distribution is set for March 9-14 at JW Maniott, Indianapolis, In.

National Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association has released its national legislative and regulatory policy agenda for 2014, identifying dealers' common interests and translating them into policy goals to revitalize the construction industry.

"Our industry was hit hard by the recession, but our members have rebounded with lessons about what needs to be done to set the housing industry on the path to economic growth. We need policymakers to focus on eliminating unnecessary regulatory burdens, creating sound fiscal policies, and reforming our tax code in a way that will aid the economic recovery," said NLBMDA chair Chris Yenrick, Smith Phillips Building Supply, Winston-Salem, N.C. "The agenda outlines what our vital small businesses need to boost employment and get our country back on track."

Focused on advancing pro-growth policies that will strengthen small businesses, the agenda offers the industry's positions on housing/construction policy, tax/economic policy, legal reform/consumer protection, workforce policy, energy policy, highway safety, product supply/trade, and the environment, health and safety.

The agenda will be distributed to members of Congress and key Administration officials, and will be used by NLBMDA members when they visit their members of Congress during the group's legislative conference March 31-April2 in Washington, D.C.

North American Building Material Distribution Association welcomed its new president, Don F. Schalk, C.H. Briggs Co., succeeding Michael Darby, Capital Lumber.

They are joined on the board by president-elect Rick Turk, Metro Hardwoods; v.p. Bill Sauter, OHARCO; treasurer Wayne Moriarty, Atlantic Plywood, and directors Jamie Barnes, McKillican International; Ken Hager, Amerhart; Ray Prozzillo, A&M Supply; David Sullivan, Meyer Decorative Services; Mark Carlisle, M.L. Campbell; Jim Jacquemard, C.A. Technologies; Jeff Muller, Panolam Industries; Dan Pickett, Knape & Vogt; Greg Simon, Far East American, and Todd Vogelsinger, Columbia Forest Products.

International Wood Products Associationts annual convention is March 5-7 in St. Petersburg, Fl.

Speakers include investment strategist Scott Clemons, Brunswick Corp. chief Dusty McCoy, and Congressman Steve Southerland.

MORE CRAB FEED (continued from previous page) in Eureka, Ca.: [1] Josh Dean, Bill Sullivan, John Murphy. [2] Dan Gilbert, Tim Masterson, Gary Alto. [3] Julie & Brian Martella. [4] Dean Kerstetter, Jerry Kelley, Adam Steinbuck. [5] Jan & Edgar Massoletti. [6] David Jones, Angela Robershotte. [7]

Tanka Chase, Stacey Jones. [8] George Alberson, Jesse Crosswhite, James Crosswhite. [9] Bob Figas, Troy Turner, Kevin Henley. [10] Kelly Lusa, Alan Oakes. [11] Ron Borges, Kay Johnson, Mike Renner, Claudia Lima. [12] Frank Schmidbauer, Bruce Burton, Doug Reed. [13] Blake Ridgway, Zach Marino,

Mike Cameron, Lee lorg, Carter Welch. [14] Ken Dunham. [15] Bob Maurer, Rod Kautz. [16] Michael & Pamela Harley, Tom Bacon. [17] Jim Russell, Russ Britt. [18] Terry Ricci, Ray Barbee. [19] Rich Graham, Tom Von Moos.

Mark Thomas Moothart. 86. former chief financial officer for treater Niedermeyer-Martin Co., Portland, Or., died Dec.23.

After serving in the U.S. Army and a brief stint at Georgia Pacific, Olympia, Wa., he joined Niedermeyer-Martin in 1951. He would serve as office manager, director and general manager of subsidiary Pacific Wood Treating. before retiring as c.f.o. in 1987.

Wayne Kamps, J2,former Pacific Northwest hardware executive, died Jan. 10.

He entered the hardware business in 1985, as regional hardware merchandising manager for Cotter & Co., serving 80 True Value Hardware stores in the Northwest. In his first year, he was inducted into the compa-

Ctassified

ny's Presidents Club. In 1989, he joined Jensen-Byrd, Spokane, Wa., as training manager for five western states, retiring in 1992.

Ronald Lee Worden, 76, cofounder and owner of High Desert Hardwood, Eagle, Id., died Dec.27 in Boise,Id.

He worked in the lumber industry first in Oregon, before relocating to Boise in 1985. He opened his own company with his wife, Margaret, in 1993.

James Robinson Peck,72. retired co-owner of Peck Building Materials, Florence. Or.. died Dec.26.

He served in the U.S. Navy during the early 1960s. After graduating from California State University, Hayward, in 1968, he went to work

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