JAPANESE ORGANIZE LUMBER POOL HERE

UNIFORM IMPORT POLICY PLANNED

Formation of a pool of Japanese lumber dealers, to be represented in this country by four Japanese importing firms with offices in Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. as exclusive buying agents was announced today by S. Fukuda, manager of the Seattle offices of Mitsui & Co., Ltd.

Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha, Ltd., Yamacho & Co. Ltd., all with Seattle branches, and Tamura & Co., Ltd., with offices in Vancouver, B.C., were named as buying agents for the pool, which is known as the American Lumber Importing Association.

Agents of Government

The four importing houses in effect will be purchasing agents for the Japanese government, the pool having been organized at the instance of the Japanese government, to regulate the price and quality of imported lumber in Japan.

The association is composed of sixty Japanese dealers, and will deal in sawed lumber, piling and logs, exclusive of logs designed for the manufacture of pulp.

Kukuda said the formation of the lumber pool did not presage any material increase in lumber orders from Japan.

Uniformity Is Aim

"It will mean the designated importing houses will agree on the price they will pay for American lumber," Fukuda explained. "In the past, competition has induced some importers to buy a cheap grade of lumber irrespective of the use to which it would be put. Elimination of this practice is one purpose of the new set-up."

L.E. Force, president and general manager of the Douglas Fir Exporting Company, commenting on Fukuda's announcement, said the new arrangement, through the elimination of competition among the Japanese importers and through concentrated buying, may prove to be more satisfactory also to American lumber exporters.