Forest products & packaging - Smoothing out the cycles

The Asian crisis is reverberating lu our timberlands. The Face of northern bleached softwood kraft pulp, a key product, fell to $500 a ton last year, from $610 in 1997. The Japanese aren't buying as many logs:as they used to. Lumber producers got a 3% price boost from the 1.6 million U.S. housing st arts, up from 1997's 1.5 million. But a slowdown this year would end the ri se.