Trip Report for Taipei Building Show 2015 Taipei, Taiwan

December 9th– 14th

A. Travellers

Name Company Check-in Check-out Confirmation

Number

Ellan Huang Super Lumber 2015/12/9 2015/12/14 5761685

Huang Shih-Hsueh Savannah Wood 2015/12/10 2015/12/13 5761539

Vince Almond Almond Lumber 2015/12/9 2015/12/14 5836532

Eric Chen Vanport 2015/12/8 2015/12/11 6993638

Jiekun Wang Vanport 2015/12/8 2015/12/11 6993673

Megan Haverman Softwood Export Council 2015/12/8 2015/12/13 7143534

Norikazu Yoshi Tumac Lumber 2015/12/8 2015/12/14

Huck DeVenzio Speaker 2015/12/8 2015/12/13 5836703

Xu Fang American Softwoods 2015/12/9 2015/12/13 5761659

Freda Ye American Softwoods 2015/12/9 2015/12/14 5761607

Ade Zou American Softwoods 2015/12/9 2015/12/14 5761582

B. Purpose of Travel Taiwan has rich and diversified forest resources. Taiwan’s forestlands can be classified into three categories - national lands, county/city lands, and private lands. Of these, 20% (approximately 420 thousand hectares) are manmade forests, 7% are bamboo woods, and the rest (73%) are undeveloped natural forests. Most of Taiwan’s timber is currently imported because of the country’s strict management policies. Although most timber is now off limits to commercial exploitation, supporting industries in Taiwan which once processed local wood remain strong, with many Taiwan-based companies now important players in the Asia regional and global trade in lumber and lumber products. Initially, Taiwan firms manufacturing lumber, paper, furniture, and decorative wood products shifted from using locally-sourced to using imported raw materials. Our mission for members attending the Taipei Building Show was to enhance the business communication between U.S. and Taiwan lumber companies for any opportunity of further cooperation.

C. Itinerary Wednesday, Dec 9, 2015 AMSO China staff picked up shipping materials, show badges and set up SEC booth

Thursday, Dec 10, 2015 10:00-18:00 Trade Show day 11:30 Opening Ceremony (U.S. Pavilion) 13:30-17:00 Seminar Friday, Dec 11, 2015 08:00-13:30 Site Visit 10:00-18:00 Trade Show day Saturday, Dec 12, 2015 10:00-18:00 Trade Show day Sunday, Dec 13, 2015 10:00-18:00 Trade Show day Move-out Monday, Dec 14, 2015 Mission members fly back

D. Summary and Observations Trade show:

Taipei Building Show is focusing on the theme of eco-friendly and green building. The show takes place at Taipei World Trade Center Hall 1 and Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 1 every December. According to statistics by the organizer, a total of more than 1,900 booths and over 4,000 visitors/buyers attended. This year, the U.S. Pavilion was designed in the form of a “Galaxy”, a wooden structural booth with variegated colored lights of plafond.

Taiwan is a significant importer of Southern Yellow Pine, especially for pressure-treated applications, because Taiwan architects, designers and developers have raised doubts about wood performance in a warm, humid and high seismic threat region like Taiwan.

During the show, visitors told us some of the species of wood that are used in Taiwan’s interior design are Taiwan Red Cypress, Japanese Cedar, China Fir, Taiwania, and Red Oak. Architects think clear grade lumber is too rigid for designers to use.

More than 260 people visited AMSO’s booth in the 4 days of the show; 85 people left their contact information, and 61 visitors’ communication surveys were collected. The survey summary shows that, among the visitors, interior designers, architects and construction professionals are the majority; most of the visitors are searching for raw materials from local importers. Product brochures and grading information are among the highest demanded information. A majority of them only stopped by for a short time.

Seminar:

American Softwoods hosted a half day seminar on December 10 to introduce the application of Southern Yellow Pine treated lumber. About 120 designers, wood importers and architects attended the seminar. ATO Taipei Director Mark Ford made welcome remarks.

Taiwanese Architect Hung Yu Cheng, Huck DeVenzio from the United States and American Softwoods’ China Office Director Xu Fang were the keynote speakers. They shared the chemical properties and applications of SYP products, the environmental benefits of using wood and wood products in green building construction and their experience of using SYP in different

projects. The seminar was well received by the audience. They even continued the discussion on Facebook after the seminar was over.

107 audiences left their contact information and 39 audiences’ communication surveys were collected.

Site Visit:

Visit Hsieh Sheng Wood – treating plant (MCA, Borate)

We noticed that the process at Hsieh Sheng’s mill is ventilating lumber like what is typically done for logs and big timbers.

Visit Bestwood’s office (SYA, SPF, DF for wood structures)

Bestwood is the largest importer of US lumber in Taiwan. They keep an inventory 1/3 higher than the market demand.

E. Evaluation Survey Summary Please see attachments for both evaluation surveys for the show and the seminar. F. Conclusions and Recommendations Taiwan’s emphasis is on pressure-treated applications. From 2007 to 2013, the volume share of SYP lumber to total softwood lumber exports from the United States to Japan was between 1.2 and 3.0 percent. During the same period, the SYP share of total US softwood lumber exports in volume to mainland China and Taiwan went from between 5.4 and 25.7 percent to between 31.6 and 51.4 percent, respectively.

During the trade show, nearly everyone complained that the warm and humid tropical climate in Taiwan accelerates the decay of wood products, especially for exterior applications, which makes it necessary to use durable wood products in that region. We recommended that they use pressure-treated SYP for exterior applications and reminded them that wood must be treated in the United States for quality to be guaranteed, but they’ve got their doubts. In this regard, Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA)-treated SYP lumber has an excellent reputation for quality in Taiwan and is cheaper than other durable products But CCA will be prohibited beginning in January of 2016, and CCA treated SYP being imported to Taiwan before that date could still be used or sold until all the materials are consumed .

For an Asian country, Taiwan has a strong and stable economy. Taiwan’s wood culture was partially developed by the Japanese demand for Taiwanese wooden sculptures during Japan’s occupation of Taiwan, Miaoli and Taitung in Taiwan that specialize in wooden sculptures. Therefore, there is still room for improvement between the United State and Taiwan in the wood products. Some of the factors to consider are educating specifiers on wood-frame construction techniques and convincing developers about the earthquake-resistant properties of wood-frame buildings.