What’s the demand for Southern Pine in India look like? Sarah Johnson, the Southern Forest Products Association’s consultant with American Softwoods in Europe, the Middle East region, Northern Africa, India, and Egypt, and Alaina Hanson, SFPA’s director of administration, got a glimpse during a recent USDA Agribusiness Trade Mission to India.
The April 21-26, 2024, mission allowed Johnson and Hanson to promote American softwood products to the Indian market, acquire more knowledge of the Indian market for softwood lumber exports, and establish relationships with leading Indian lumber importers.
India Agribusiness Trade Mission
The 2024 India Agribusiness Trade Mission, held at the Leela Palace in New Delhi, India, was one of the USDA’s largest trade missions to date. This was the second time American Softwoods has attended an Agribusiness Trade Mission hosted by the USDA. Nearly 60 U.S. cooperators, state departments of agriculture, and other trade groups attended this event.
Johnson and Hanson visited three local importers:
- AK Lumbers Ltd. AK Lumbers imports between 50 to 60 containers of logs and lumber per month into Mandurah, fabricating mainly doors, and selling around 7,000 per month. Atul Jindal, managing director of AK Lumbers Ltd. and regional committee member of CAPEXIL (Plywood & Allied Product Export Promotion Council), emphasized there would be a higher demand for wood products if AMSO could re-educate the younger generation on how the U.S. incorporates environmentally sustainable practices in forestry management. They are favoring other materials, such as concrete for housing. He encouraged AMSO to promote the messaging through advertisements and exhibitions in both architecture and engineering schools as there are thousands of them.
- Saraswati Wood Ltd. Nishant Bansal is the third-generation owner of the family business and imports a variety of wood products from hardwoods such as Maple to White Oak to Southern Pine. There are more than 100 companies in India making prefabricated homes, Bansal said, and Saraswati is a supplier.
- Chaudhary Timber Industries Ltd. Vishal Chaudhary, director of Chaudhary Timber Industries, mostly imports Southern Pine and is open to importing other species but is hesitant to do so because the market generally lacks understanding of what is available and the merits of other species. He uses Southern Pine for doors and cladding, but he lacks understanding of other applications. He thinks training videos as opposed to seminars would be useful to the market as they bypass the language barrier and visually educate the viewers on uses for Southern Pine. They’re also free for the user and can be viewed at any time and an endless number of times. Vishal also was keen on images of different Southern Pine applications, such as the Portland Airport. He noted he would like to see more examples of multi-purpose usage such as how to polish, paint, and best applications recommendations.
Southern Pine, Softwoods in India
India offers great opportunities for American softwoods. India’s population exceeded China’s by 16 million people in 2023, taking the total population to just more than 1.44 billion. India is the fifth-largest economy and is set to be the third largest by 2027, surpassing Japan and Germany.
The world’s most populous nation also boasts a fast-growing economy, with GDP growing at 8.4% in the final quarter of 2023. The economy is projected to grow by 7% in 2024. Sustained economic expansion is expected to push India up the rankings of the world’s biggest economies.
Indian demographics are also rapidly changing. Currently, 65% of the population is younger than 30, while 45% are younger than 20. The younger generations are generating more income than their parents evidence that both the higher income and upper middle classes continue to grow, while the poorer classes continue to shrink. Nearly 1 million new people are entering the country’s workforce every month, and U.S. companies are heavily invested in the country, employing more than 3 million people.
Major infrastructure overhauls are set to take place because of these population and economic expansions, including residential and commercial real estate projects. India also has a thriving range of industries for semi-processed and value-added timber products, including wooden handicrafts, pulp and paper, plywood, veneer, and wooden furniture.
Sales of American-sawn softwood to India reached a five-year high of $26.2 million in 2023, up from $12.3 in 2022, an increase of 113%.
Despite many decades of complex and slow-moving economic policies, the Indian government has taken a pro-growth approach in the new budget it announced in 2022 and looks to ease regulation in certain areas (i.e. tariffs). Recent geopolitical shifts have occurred in the Indian administration as younger generations embrace Western values and align with Western economic strategies.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The USDA India Agribusiness Trade Mission was a valuable event, highlighting various opportunities for AMSO to successfully promote softwood products in India.
In addition to the trade meetings, there were positive discussions with the local USDA teams regarding future promotions in India, which will be invaluable as AMSO develops a strategy in this market. Discussions with other cooperators have led to the potential for collaboration on marketing activations for 2024.
Sustainability messaging is a priority, as well as education on product uses, capabilities, and advantages of using softwood over other building materials, mainly through video or social media channels.