Page 20 - North Carolina Forestry Association - Fall 2019
P. 20

    LEGISLATIVE/ASSOCIATION NEWS
  Logging operation near Loch Ness in Scotland
NCFA EXPLORES
NEW MARKETS
for Forestry in Trade Mission to United Kingdom
The North Carolina Forestry Association and North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services want to help our forest-products producers take their goods global.
    The title of the 2019 Appalachian Society of American Foresters winter meeting — “Growing It Local, Taking It Global” — succinctly describes the forest-products export
market in North Carolina and throughout the United States. Exports have been a growing part of the forest-products
portfolio for quite some time. While the percentage of forest exports has markedly increased over the last two decades, curtailments due to the 2018-2019 U.S. and China trade war will likely result in a significant decrease in export receipts in the near future. This unfortunate trade situation has driven many producers to start exploring new markets.
Thanks to a grant from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (NCDA & CS), the North Carolina Forestry Association’s (NCFA) Executive Vice President was able to participate in a multi-commodity trade mission June 29 through July 27, 2019, which examined existing and potential forest products markets in the United Kingdom.
Dr. John Hatcher of NCFA joined the following delegation during this key trade mission: Dr. Sandy Stewart, NCDA & CS Assistant Commissioner of Agricultural Services; Peter Thornton, NCDA & CS Director, International Marketing; Dr. Clay Altizer, NCDA & CS International Marketing Specialist, Forest Products; Kelly McIver, Executive Director, North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission; and Owen Wagner, CEO, North Carolina Soybean Producers Association.
(l-r) Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture Services Dr. Sandy Stewart; NCFA Executive Vice President Dr. John Hatcher; Sinclair Brown, Chief Executive, Port of Inverness; Kelly McIver, Executive Director, North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission; and Dr. Clay Altizer, NCDA & CS International Marketing Specialist, Forest Products at the Port of Inverness, Scotland.
Dr. Altizer and Dr. Hatcher met with representatives from American Softwoods, the American Hardwoods Export Council (AHEC), Drax, Enviva, the Port of Inverness, Construction Scotland Innovation Centre and International Timber. Ambassadors from AHEC and American Softwoods provided insight about the programs that are being used
to help producers identify new markets and to promote the
   18 ncforestry.org / THIRD QUARTER 2019




















































































   18   19   20   21   22