The Japanese Forest Agency has reviewed and revised Japan's degree of self-sufficiency rate for domestic wood. Since the domestic supply in 2015 does not seem to achieve an initial target of 28,000,000 cbms, the annual target imposed for 2020 is now reduced from 39,000,000 cbms down to 32,000,000 cbms. Moreover, the target set for 2020, to achieve a degree of self-sufficiency of 50%, is now postponed for another 5 years. This means that Japan will continue to rely on imports of wood, rather than own domestic resources.
Every five years, the Japanese forest industry is reviewed and the agency suggests targets for the use of wood for five, ten and twenty years in the future.
The plan made in July 2011 aimed for a degree of self-sufficiency of 50% with a target for domestic wood supply of 28,000,000 cbms by 2015 and 39,000,000 cbms by 2020. However, due to the fact that supply was only 24,000,000 cbms, far from the target proposed, this revision of the Forest Agency tries to get closer to reality.
Japan is increasingly relying on own domestic lumber production and less on imports. Japan's lumber self-sufficiency rate (or the proportion of domestic product to total lumber supply in the country) has reached a new high in 2014 of 30 percent. This was the highest level in 27 years.
The recovery reflects increasing demand for Japanese lumber and yen's weakness, which has lifted prices for imports.
There is also an upward trend noticed in biomass power generation. Japan has witnessed a surge in biomass power plants after the FIT (feed in tariff) system was introduced in July 2012. As many as 33 plants are expected to start operations in 2016.
Japan's lumber self-sufficiency rate has dropped to a record low of 18.15 percent in 2000 from 94.51 percent in 1955. This was due to falling, prices, rising costs for domestic production and rising imports. However, this rate has been moderately improving in recent years.
As the Japanese Forestry Agency has set a target of lifting the self-sufficiency rate to 50 percent by 2020, and thus to ensure a stable supply, the agency also plans ways of promoting and boosting domestic lumber production such as: construction of multi-storey buildings using Japanese cross-laminated timber; support for wooden biomass power generation as a new source of revenue for mountainous villages.
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