Every construction season starts with the same question: how much material will the market need, and at what price? For structural panels and engineered framing, the annual yearbook published by the Engineered Wood Association answers with production statistics, economic analysis, and a forecast for the year ahead. Builders, estimators, and distributors read it to time material purchases, set bid margins, and plan crew size.
Engineered wood shows up across a single project, from structural panels in the wall assembly to engineered wood flooring in finished rooms. The market data that tracks one product line tracks the whole family, because the products share raw material, mills, and the same housing cycle.
The yearbook covers the U.S., Canadian, and global economies, with historical production tables, import and export figures, and market segment breakdowns. The forecast section turns those inputs into expected production for the year, which is the number most buyers actually plan around.
What Counts as Engineered Wood
Engineered wood products start as veneers, strands, or lumber and are bonded with adhesives into members larger and more uniform than solid wood. The category splits into panels and framing products, and each serves a different part of the structure.
Structural panels: OSB and plywood
Oriented strand board layers wood strands in crossed orientations and bonds them under heat and pressure. Plywood builds up from rotary-peeled veneers with the grain of each layer perpendicular to the next. Both carry shear loads in walls, floors, and roofs, and both dominate the sheathing market because they convert small logs into large, stable panels. The choice between them usually comes down to local supply, price, and moisture exposure, since OSB edges swell more readily than plywood when wet.
Framing members: I-joists, LVL, and glulam
I-joists pair flanges of solid or laminated lumber with an OSB web, giving long spans at low weight. Laminated veneer lumber presses veneers into beams and headers with predictable strength. Glued laminated timber bonds dimension lumber into curved or straight members for heavy spans. A close look at engineered wood types, applications, and performance compared to solid wood explains why each earns a specific place in the assembly.
Manufacturing consistency is the shared selling point. Solid lumber carries knots, slope of grain, and moisture variation from tree to tree; engineered members sort, dry, and laminate the raw material so each piece meets a published design value. That predictability is what lets designers span farther and builders order with confidence.
Grade stamps tell the story on site. Each engineered member carries a stamp from an accredited agency that ties the piece to a design value, and inspectors look for that stamp on every panel and joist. The yearbook’s production tables use the same product classes that appear in the stamps.
What Drives Demand for Engineered Wood
The yearbook analyzes the U.S., Canadian, and global economies, then connects each factor to demand across market segments. Housing starts lead the list because panels and joists sell in proportion to new floor area. Mortgage rates, remodeling activity, and nonresidential construction follow, and the forecast weights each one.
Interest rates and the housing cycle
Central banks in the United States, Canada, and Europe spent 2022 and 2023 raising policy rates to push inflation toward 2 percent, and the effect reached mortgages directly. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage stayed above 6 percent through the rest of 2023, and home sales weakened in both new and existing segments. Single-family starts fell to about 800,000 in 2023, down 20 percent from 2022.
Multifamily and rental demand
A record number of multifamily units were still under construction in 2023, which raised questions about returns on rental housing. The yearbook projected multifamily starts down at least 10 percent for the year, a slower decline than single-family but still a drag on panel demand.
Repair and remodel activity
Remodeling behaves differently from new construction because homeowners finance it with cash and home equity rather than purchase mortgages. Repair and remodel demand stayed comparatively steady in 2023, and it supports a steady floor under panel sales when starts fall.
Specifiers also weigh the environmental case, and the question of whether structural engineered wood is green has followed the category since panels first replaced site-built assemblies. The energy, waste, and forestry accounting behind that debate shapes product selection in commercial work.
The Canadian market gets its own treatment in the yearbook because Canadian mills supply a large share of U.S. panels. Currency movements and Canadian starts shift that supply, so the two economies are read together even though they run on separate housing cycles.
Reading the Production Forecast
The yearbook pairs its narrative with tables of historical production and a forecast for the year. The numbers below capture the 2023 outlook and show how the pieces fit together.
2023 outlook at a glance
| Metric | 2023 value | Change from 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Single-family starts | about 800,000 | down 20 percent |
| Multifamily starts | at least 10 percent lower | down 10 percent or more |
| 30-year fixed mortgage | above 6 percent | up sharply |
| Structural panel output | forecast by region | mixed |
How to work through the tables
- Start with the macro outlook to see whether starts rise or fall.
- Check the panel production forecast for OSB and plywood separately.
- Compare the forecast against the historical production table.
- Review North American import and export numbers for supply pressure.
- Apply the regional detail to your own market before adjusting quotes.
The yearbook’s categories line up with the structural products for builders that appear on a typical materials list: plywood, lumber, and engineered wood systems. Reading the forecast in those terms makes the data usable in the estimating room.
Imports and exports deserve a separate look because they change the supply picture. When domestic mills run near capacity, imports fill the gap, and the trade tables show whether that relief is growing or shrinking. A forecast that ignores trade flows will misprice panels in port cities.
Historical tables earn their keep during price negotiations. A 10-year production series shows how quickly mills add capacity when demand rises, which tells a buyer whether a current shortage is a spike or a structural gap.
Where Engineered Wood Fits in Construction
Demand splits across new residential, repair and remodel, nonresidential, and industrial markets. Each segment buys a different mix of panels and framing products.
Residential framing
Single-family construction is the largest consumer of OSB and I-joists. A typical 2,000-square-foot house carries thousands of square feet of sheathing and hundreds of lineal feet of joists, so every percentage point of start activity moves measurable volume. Panel demand tracks floor area closely, which is why the forecast leads with starts.
Nonresidential and industrial markets
Commercial projects use plywood for formwork and subflooring, glulam for exposed roof structure, and LVL for long headers. Industrial markets add crating, pallets, and specialty panels. These segments smooth the cycle when housing slows, and the yearbook tracks them separately from residential.
Substitution moves between products when prices diverge. Builders swap plywood for OSB, or solid lumber for I-joists, based on delivered cost, and the yearbook tracks those shifts in the production numbers. Watching the substitution trend helps estimators price alternates before the owner asks.
The same product family reaches outside the structure itself. Engineered wood trim and structural support for outdoor buildings, such as sheds, pergolas, and covered entries, extend the market and give builders products that resist warping better than solid lumber in damp locations.
Using Market Data on the Job Site
A forecast becomes useful when it changes a decision. Contractors use the yearbook to time material commitments, set bid margins, and plan crew size across the season.
Budgeting and bid timing
- Bid fixed-price work early in a falling market to lock lower material costs.
- Hold contingency on lumber when the forecast calls for tightening supply.
- Schedule panel deliveries around projected start activity in your region.
- Quote repairs against remodel data rather than new-construction data.
Planning for retrofit work
Older buildings often need supplemental structural members added during renovation, and structural rehabilitation projects consume the same panels and LVL as new builds. Forecast data helps estimators price that work against current joist and beam costs.
Distributor and inventory planning
Distributors translate the forecast into stocking levels: more sheathing before a projected start ramp, tighter inventory when starts fall. The same tables that inform a national outlook get read region by region, because local markets run on different cycles.
Long-span engineered floors perform best when the design accounts for how people actually use the space. The vibration control strategies used in modern buildings, tuned for human comfort and structural integrity, apply to I-joist and glulam floors, and they matter more as spans grow.