Factors Affecting Lumber Conversion Rate of Sawmill Industry in South Korea

Abstract

This study is conducted to investigate the factors affecting lumber conversion rate of sawmill industry in South Korea. Data were obtained from the survey of 38 sawmills in all geographic regions of South Korea. The variables examined in this study were region, softwood/hardwood log, domestic1 Imported/both log, the number of power-driven carriages (PDC) installed, the year when and country where PDCs was manufactured, the horse power of PDC, the number of labors required to operate each PDC, the sawing capacity of mill (mill size), and the types of major product and by-products. The lumber recovery factor (LRF) of sawmills were significantly influenced by the origin of logs, level of PDC automation, sawmill size, and size of logs (measured in diameter and length) while not by the location of the mill, types of major product and by-product, log species, and characteristics of PDC. Although these results provide useful information for understanding the technological characteristics of the Korean sawmill industry, further investigation with larger sample is necessary to reveal the more reliable characteristics of sawmill industry in South Korea.