Total North American consumption of structural panels in Q3 was 6.686 billion ft2, compared to 6.089 billion ft2 in the previous quarter - a 6.8% increase, but still a drop of 15.7% compared with Q3, 2008 (7.934 billion ft2).

Structural panel production in the US was up 9.5% in Q3 at 4.990 billion ft2 compared with Q2 (4.557 billion ft2), while Canadian output increased 10.0% from 1.557 billion ft2 in Q2 to 1.712 billion ft2.

Plywood and OSB production in Q3 were 13% and 19% lower than in the corresponding quarter in 2008 at 2.724 billion ft2 and 3.978 billion ft2, respectively.  But that was an improvement on the year-over-year declines in Q2, when plywood production dropped 20% from 3.334 billion ft2 to 2.642 billion ft2, and OSB was 31% lower at 3.472 billion ft2 compared to 5.005 billion ft2 in Q2 2008.

OSB production was down 30% in the first three quarters, compared to the same period last year. But in Q3 this year, there was a 15% increase in production compared to Q2, from 3.472 billion ft2 to 3.978 billion ft2.

Output of specialty OSB, which includes I-joist web stock, rimboards and furniture frames, jumped 27% to 319 million ft2, up from 252 million ft2 in Q2.

Softwood plywood production increased just 3.1%, from 2.424 billion ft2 in Q2 to 2.724 billion ft2. Compared to Q3 last year (3.135 billion ft2), production was 13% lower.

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