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Strong growth in the Hawaii lumber industry is predicted as construction activity is picking up locally and across the nation, said Ken Laughlin, president of the Hawaii Lumber Products Association.

“The lumber industry is about to take off as demand and production rates rise,” Laughlin said in a HLPA release on Thursday, Aug. 29.

The start of 2013 showed a 9.5% rise in lumber production levels from the same period in 2012, the HLPA reported, and private housing unit starts this past July shot up 20.9% from July 2012 nationwide.

Authorization of building permits for privately-owned housing also went up by 12.4%, the HLPA reported, citing U.S. Commerce Department reports. Local experts believe Hawaii will be on trend to follow the national rise in construction, Laughlin said.

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations released its employment forecast for the third quarter of 2014, which shows a 12.8% increase in construction employment, equaling 3,750 more jobs.

From Big Island Now: http://bigislandnow.com/2013/08/29/lumber-industry-sees-strong-growth-ahead/