The Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) recently published its 2024 Annual Report, which details the organization’s impact generating more softwood lumber demand by expanding new and emerging markets and protecting existing markets.

“The SLB and its funded programs—the AWC, Think Wood, WoodWorks, and SLB Education—are putting the lumber industry in a stronger position than ever before,” said SLB President & CEO Cees de Jager. “Despite a challenging market for multifamily and nonresidential construction, the SLB delivered strong demand growth for the industry in 2024, generating 1.6 billion board feet of incremental demand and influencing 1,498 projects, representing 66 million square feet.”

Since 2012, the SLB and its partners have cumulatively generated more than 15.3 billion board feet in demand, equating to an average return of 86 incremental board feet for every $1 invested.

In 2024, the SLB continued to target investments across its key program areas of codes, communications, conversions, and education through its funded programs, partnerships and initiatives. Key accomplishments include:
 

• Every $100 the SLB invests in programs leverages $96 in additional outside funding on average since 2021.
• The AWC’s 2027 IBC change priority would create $360,000 in savings per building, making wood construction more cost-competitive by reducing sealant/adhesive requirements when adopted.
• Think Wood and WoodWorks co-nurtured leads that led to 31 projects breaking ground in 2024, representing 40.9 MM BF. Think Wood produced 10,647 highly engaged leads—a record.
• WoodWorks directly influenced 1,498 projects to choose wood, resulting in 629 MM BF of incremental lumber in 2024. Sixty-seven percent of the projects WoodWorks supports continued to be light-frame construction, 25% used mass timber and 8% hybrid (mass timber and light-frame).
• The SLB and its funded programs delivered more than 163,400 hours of education to architects, engineers, designers, developers, contractors, and code officials.
• The SLB-supported Mass Timber Accelerators in Boston, New York, and Atlanta are expanding market adoption by removing barriers, leveraging federal matching funds, and supporting early-stage projects totaling millions of square feet in planned mass timber construction.
• The SLB has partnered with the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) and constructsteel to promote steel-timber hybrid construction, an innovative solution that meets market demand for cost-effective, sustainable building designs. 

Without the SLB, annual softwood lumber use from 2020 to 2024 would have been 3.5% lower. View the full report at softwoodlumberboard.org/annualreport.

Source: softwoodlumberboard.org