Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 will, to a great degree, depend on implementing a “circular economy”. In the forest sector, this relates to how we manage forests and use forest products. The Forest Products Annual Market Review covers recent trends, policies and market intelligence on forest products along with production, consumption and trade statistics for the UNECE region; all of which are critical to the role of forests in creating a more circular economy.

This paper describes the current state of the U.S. economy and provides general and statistical information on forest products markets in terms of production, trade, consumption, and prices. Market developments are described for sawn softwood, sawn hardwood, softwood log trade, wood-based panels, paper and paperboard, fuelwood, forest product prices, and housing starts. Policy initiatives that can affect domestic markets and international trade in wood products are also discussed in some detail. Data are provided through the end of the year 2008 with forecasts through 2009.