Tokyo: Japan is increasingly relying on own domestic lumber production and less on imports. Japan’s lumber self-sufficiency rate (or the proportion of domestic product to total lumber supply in the country) has reached a new high in 2014 of 30 percent. This is the highest level in 27 years.
According to the Japan Times daily, the recovery reflects increasing demand for Japanese lumber and yen’s weakness, which has lifted prices for imports.
There is also an upward trend noticed in biomass power generation. Japan has witnessed a surge in biomass power plants after the FIT (feed in tariff) system was introduced in July 2012. As many as 33 plants are expected to start operations in 2016 with 18 facilities being planned to start by April 2016.
The country’s biomass consumption has also reportedly risen. According to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry data, in 2014, Japan’s consumption rose by 6.7 percent to 2 mn tons as compared with 2013.
Japan’s lumber self-sufficiency rate has dropped to a record low of 18.15 percent in 2000 from 94.51 percent in 1955. This was due to falling, prices, rising costs for domestic production and rising imports. However, this rate has been moderately improving in recent years. Japan’s Forestry Agency has set a target of lifting the self-sufficiency rate to 50 percent by 2020 to ensure a stable supply, says Japan Times.
The agency also plans other ways of promoting and boosting domestic lumber production: construction of multi-storey buildings using Japanese cross-laminated timber; support for wooden biomass power generation as a new source of revenue for mountainous villages. The agency’s campaign is part of an effort to utilize forests planted across the country decades ago.
