JOC Staff | Nov 15, 2012 10:37AM EST
The first shipments of Southern yellow pine logs to China from South Carolina and Virginia in more than a year left the Port of Charleston’s Wando Welch Terminal recently, as part of a pilot program with the Chinese government to restore limited log trade.
The ban on South Carolina and Virginia logs was provisionally lifted earlier this year, after months-long negotiations between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Chinese government regarding pest control.
The 20 containers of about 800 logs required extra steps to export because the pilot program requires more stringent sampling and fumigation, said Leigh Allen, president of Garley Forest Products, the Mississippi-based company that handled the shipment.
China is a rapidly expanding market for Southeast logs and lumber, so reopening trade boosts volume at Port of Charleston, said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the South Carolina Ports Authority.
