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It has been said that he Southern Pine Lumber Industry is like a family. Full of friendly people and companies built on enduring values, we stick together; and much like the products we deal in, we are strong and durable.
In the past 100 years we have endured the Great Depression, two World Wars, and multiple pandemics. Our industry is no stranger to hard times, and as the oldest active Southern Pine trade association, the Southern Forest Products Association has endured every modern crisis alongside it. The current situation had brought about some incredible acts of kindness and ingenuity. Every day we observe both individuals and companies across our industry doing whatever they can to keep production moving forward. In times like these we are prouder than ever to stand alongside the industry, offer informational resources, answer questions, provide tools to facilitate trade, and help however we can.
Between Coronavirus, the economy, and unemployment numbers it is easy to get bogged down in the negative news lately. It is important to recognize that even in these unprecedented and uncertain times, there are positive signs for our industry. On March 19, the Department of Homeland Security declared wood products as a critical infrastructure industry during COVID-19, and the recently released 2019 production numbers reported the highest ever recorded annual production of Southern Yellow Pine at 19.37 billion board feet. Rays of hope confirming what we already knew: we will press on and endure this together.
