Page 18 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Third Quarter 2024

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As International Program Manager of the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), Tripp Pryor is responsible for identifying emerging markets for U.S. hardwood products and coordinating with AHEC’s overseas offices on marketing strategies to drive new growth. Over the last eight years, Pryor has traveled extensively with AHEC to organize international pavilions and marketing events in more than 20 countries. Before joining AHEC, Pryor completed his master’s degree in international business at the University of South Carolina. He also holds an undergraduate degree from South Carolina in marketing and international business and spent two years studying at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he learned Mandarin Chinese.
IF YOUR COMPANY WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE
about international market opportunities for your hardwood products, please reach out to AHEC’s International Program Manager, Tripp Pryor, at tpryor@ahec.org, and
visit www.americanhardwood.org.
Opportunities in Cross-Laminated Timber
Some recent high-profile design projects include our work developing American hardwoods for cross-laminated timber (CLT), which will allow for underutilized wood like yellow poplar to be used for construction. The U.S., and North Carolina in particular, has a tremendous volume of yellow poplar that is undervalued compared to the potential of this material. “The Endless Stair,” a project for the London Design Festival in 2013 inspired by M.C. Escher’s physics-defying staircase art, was the first-ever installation with yellow poplar CLT.
Key for the American industry, CLT represents a market opportunity for low- grade yellow poplar, as the panels can be made up of small dimension strips graded structurally, not visually. The global market for CLT was over $1.4 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow to nearly $4 billion by 2030, which is a tremendous opportunity for
our industry. AHEC is creating another installati
i
o
n
o
n
for the 2024 London Design Festival, this tim
y
In addition to design outreach, AHEC creates direct sales opportunities for American hardwood companies through trade missions, conventions, trade show pavilions, factory visits, and other networking events.
e
for American hardwoods in construction an
d
m
e
using red oak glulam to promote the potentia
l
n
d
a
l
exterior use, two new market sectors previously unavailable to American hardwoods.
“VERT” – an installation using red oak glulam for the 2024 London Design Festival
16 ncforestry.org / THIRD QUARTER 2024