Wood Market Brief: SBS Capacity Cuts, Softwood Duty Signals, and China Furniture Duties Hold
Clearwater Paper halves SBS output in Arkansas
Clearwater Paper (NYSE: CLW) announced on April 9 the restructuring of its Cypress Bend, Arkansas mill, cutting approximately 20% of salaried and hourly roles and running the facility at about half capacity. The company expects $8–12 million in annualized savings with no change to shipment volumes. CEO Arsen Kitch pointed to "a supply-driven downturn" pressing margins across the solid bleached sulfate (SBS) paperboard segment — a market that has been oversupplied for more than a year.
**For MENA buyers:** bleached paperboard input pricing for folding-carton and packaging converters in the region should remain competitive through mid-2026. Expect continued capacity rationalisation from North American producers rather than a price-led recovery.
U.S. moves toward lowering Canadian softwood duties to ~25%
The U.S. Department of Commerce published a preliminary determination in its seventh annual review setting combined antidumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber at 24.83% — down from the current 35.16% cash deposit rate. The existing rate stays in force until a final determination, expected roughly 120 days after Federal Register publication. A separate 10% Section 232 tariff on global softwood imports sits on top.
More significant for CIS exporters: B.C. Premier David Eby noted at the Council of Forest Industries convention that the U.S. has "dramatically" increased softwood imports from Europe and Russia to cover domestic shortfalls — a structural shift that directly supports CIS-origin flows.
**For MENA buyers:** if the reduction holds through the final determination later in 2026, Canadian volume may partially return to the U.S. market, but the near-term pricing environment for Russian and Belarusian softwood into GCC ports remains stable and supportive.
U.S. keeps 216.01% duty on Chinese bedroom furniture
Commerce also confirmed the 216.01% China-wide cash deposit rate on imports of wooden bedroom furniture from China, following preliminary results of the annual review covering 2024. Layered on top of separate Section 232 tariffs — 30% on upholstered wood products and 50% on kitchen cabinets and vanities, both effective January 2026 — the U.S. market is effectively closed to Chinese finished furniture at scale.
**For MENA buyers:** expect continued redirection of Chinese finished-furniture volume toward MENA, Africa, and Southeast Asia, which lifts regional demand for raw material inputs — plywood, hardwood components, and veneer — into Chinese-backed processing facilities operating in these markets.
*For birch film-faced plywood, beech and oak lumber, veneer, and softwood deliveries from Novorossiysk to GCC and MENA ports, contact Wood & Paper Trading LLC.*