Lumber usage between hardwood and softwood are
estimated at 4.1 and 5.0 billion board feet of hardwood
and softwood lumber used for pallet production in 2016,
for a ratio of 45% hardwood and 55% softwood. The
hardwood market continues to recover from the 2008
downturn, but softwood appear to remain the more
popular material for pallet manufacture at this point.
Overall, the production estimates represent approximately
43% and 15% of total hardwood and softwood lumber
produced in the U.S., respectively.
The popularity of the most typical pallet footprints
indicates a similar trend seen in prior studies. The 48x40
pallet (35% of pallets) is the most popular dimensional
pallet, and by a wide margin, but the predominant pallet
size is the "other" category, indicating that custom pallets
(39% of pallets) are the most widely used pallets in the
U.S. When compared to prior studies, the difference
between these two categories is smaller, which suggests
that the industry may be becoming more standardized
that it has in the past.
palletcentral.com PalletCentral • March-April 2018 13
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