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ousing starts, especially in the South and West regions of the U.S., have helped propel increased demand for a variety of building materials and other wood products. This in turn is helping generate a bevy of new projects by cabinet manufacturers and wood flooring companies.
      The value of U.S. cabinet shipments will hit US$15.6 billion by 2008, according to a recent study by The Freedonia Group, a Cleveland-based research firm. Trends toward using more cabinets in kitchens and elsewhere throughout the home will help fuel sales. Larger bathrooms in new homes and increased usage of home entertainment centers will also factor in the equation. Freedonia says that while the new housing market will weaken during that period, cabinet demand will continue to rise due to home repair and improvement activity and the increasing popularity of home offices and dedicated media rooms.
      Tonia Ferrell, the Freedonia analyst who compiled the study, tells Site Selection that most cabinet manufacturing investment will likely take place in the West and South, in that order, in the coming years.
      "These regions have a better economic outlook, will have greater population growth, and that's where the construction need is greatest," Ferrell says.
      A separate report from Freedonia indicates that demand for laminate flooring will also continue to be strong through 2008.
      Other wood product sectors are strong, too. APA-The Engineered Wood Association says U.S. and Canadian production of structural wood panels (plywood and oriented strand board) totaled a record 42.7 billion sq. ft. (3.97 billion sq. m.) in 2004, up about 4.5 percent from 2003. APA attributes the rise to the U.S. housing market, which recorded 1.9 million starts in 2004, a 5.7-percent increase. The Canadian housing market also boomed last year, with 233,000 starts, a 17-year high.
      Louisiana, a southern state with a strong wood products industry, recently compiled a forest product reference guide aimed at prospective investors in the state. The guide highlight's the state's natural resources, which state officials say make the state attractive to forest product companies. The state logged one of 2004's largest wood products announcements with the Roy O. Martin Lumber Co. planning a $185-million oriented strand board plant in Allen Parish. (For more on that project, see the Louisiana Editorial Survey published in the January 2005 issue of Site Selection.)