Dave Farley | dfarley@bcwood.com
A few comments, suggestions, and ideas….
I just returned from our annual trade event and mission to the State of Hawaii. BC Wood, along with six member companies, participated in both the BIA Hawaii tradeshow in Honolulu and a five day market mission to the outer islands. The event was successful in increasing market intelligence and sales opportunities for participating companies. The BIA Hawaii event was strong this year, with a record attendance of over 12,000 folks participating over the 3 day event. One of the reasons for the increased attendance, other than the hot construction market, is the recent loss of the NFL Pro Bowl that moved from Honolulu to Florida. In past years, with the Pro Bowl in Honolulu, Sundays at BIA were painfully slow. However, this year, Sunday was busy right up to the 4 pm closing. Feedback from members was positive with good sales leads generated from the coordinated BC Wood products pavilion.
Immediately following the event, we traveled to the outer islands of Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island of Hawaii, meeting with a select group of builders and architects. The firms we visited target the high-end residential and resort vacation home markets on the Islands. The intelligence gathered from the mission suggests that the construction market remains strong across the State but not at the pace experienced over the last few years. Builders commented that the “pent up demand” that was driving construction activity since 2014 seems to have peaked and is now back to a normal pace. The market for softwood products from BC is good across the Islands with both Western Red Cedar and Yellow Cedar having a competitive advantage due to their resistance to the Formosan termite. It is expected that we will have a good contingent of Hawaii based builders attending the Global Buyers Mission this year, giving members further opportunity to meet potential buyers from this important market.
For more information on the Hawaii market or opportunities across the US please contact me at dfarley@bcwood.com.
