ABSTRACT
Trade in forest products occurs at every level of the forest products supply chain. Imports of wood products allow an economy to consume more overall goods and services than in the absence of trade, while exports pay for purchases made abroad. Globalization occurs as barriers to trade are reduced and comparative advantages in production process across regions are realized. In 2010, global trade in forest products involved 170 countries, valued at US$224 billion. Even though there is evidence that the intensity of wood use in economies has declined over the past decade, world trade in logs, lumber and plywood has continued to grow, peaking in 2005. Forest products trading patterns change rapidly among countries in response to changing political and economic conditions and require analytical models to assess how the forest sector reacts to these changes. Trade models capture these changes in trading behavior using the principle of comparative advantage. There has been significant activity by forest trade modelers to measure trade policy impacts using equilibrium models over the past four decades. A variety of models are used to study political, economic and environmental policies affecting the forest sector.
