Such resources promote a strong forest products industry in the United States. The U.S. produces around 11.97 billion cubic feet of industrial roundwood, distinctly less than a decade earlier. The most important products incorporating industrial roundwood are lumber, pulp products, plywood and veneer. Prices for timber products remained stable or increased over the last decade. The highest increase was reported for wood pulp and paperboard.
In total, the U.S. forestry and forest products industry employ approximately 953,000 people, making this sector one of the most significant employers in U.S. manufacturing. The industry shows an annual payroll income of almost 53 billion U.S. dollars. Industrial shipments of the wood and paper manufacturing industry are worth some 282 billion U.S. dollars. U.S. paper mill shipments alone, for example, are worth some 45 billion U.S. dollars.
Major players are summarized in the so called forest, paper and packaging (FPP) industry. International Paper is not only the largest FPP company in the United States, but also worldwide, generating some 22.37 billion U.S. dollars of revenue in 2015. Kimberly-Clark is another top player in this sector globally. With more than 0.94 billion U.S. dollars, it has the highest net income of all U.S. FPP companies, next to Kimberly-Clark with 1.01 billion U.S. dollars in net income.
