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Corporate Responsibility Magazine (formerly CRO Magazine) named Weyerhaeuser Company to its annual list of 100 Best Corporate Citizens. Weyerhaeuser was ranked No. 67 overall.

“Weyerhaeuser is committed to responsibly meeting the needs of its multiple stakeholders—including investors, customers, employees and the communities where we operate,” said Dan Fulton, Weyerhaeuser president and CEO. “This ranking affirms Weyerhaeuser’s leadership in sustainability, environmental stewardship, ethical business conduct, employee safety, community relations and more as we seek to fulfill our mission of improving lives and the planet we share by building homes and making products that come from one of the world’s most renewable resources: trees and forests.”

The 100 Best Corporate Citizens List is based on over 360 data points of publicly-available information in seven categories, including environment, climate change, human rights, philanthropy, employee relations, financial performance and governance. The 100 Best Corporate Citizens are selected from among the large-cap Russell 1000 companies, based on data provided by IW Financial, a Portland, Maine-based financial research firm that specializes in evaluating the environmental, social and governance performance of companies.

The 100 Best List was first published in 1999 in Business Ethics Magazine, and has been managed by CRO and Corporate Responsibility Magazine since 2007.

About Corporate Responsibility Magazine

20,000-subscriber Corporate Responsibility Magazine (www.thecro.com) is publisher of the 11th annual 100 Best Corporate Citizens List, among America’s three most-important business rankings according to PR Week.

About Weyerhaeuser

Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world’s largest forest products companies, was incorporated in 1900. In 2009, sales were $5.5 billion. It has offices or operations in 10 countries, with customers worldwide. Weyerhaeuser is principally engaged in the growing and harvesting of timber; the manufacture, distribution and sale of forest products; and real estate construction and development. Additional information about Weyerhaeuser’s businesses, products and practices is available at www.weyerhaeuser.com

For more information, please contact:

* Media - Greg French, (253) 924-2806
* Analysts - Kathryn McAuley, (253) 924-2058

Between 2000 and 2005, Chinese timber imports tripled from 10 million to 30 million cubic metres. The import of sawn solid wood products also experienced a similar trend. During the second quarter of 2009, China was the world's second-biggest importer of sawn softwood products.

The biggest volumes originate from Russia and Canada. Imports from Europe remain relatively modest. During the first six months of this year, almost 30% more sawn solid wood products were imported than during the corresponding period in 2008.

Chinese wood businesses visiting SCA
Autumn 2009 several wood finishing companies from visited SCAs saw mills in Tunadal, Bollsta, Rundvik and Munksund. Several of SCA's customers from China expressed the hope of establishing a close collaborative relationship with the aim of securing longterm and reliable supplies of raw material.

Swedish wood has become popular in China, partly due to IKEA starting operations there. "The lighter Nordic wood varieties are seen as modern and trendy amongst young Chinese," says Edmunt Tong, SCA in China. Spruce and pine from Scandinavia have increasingly replaced dark wood varieties in furniture and interior design.

Doing business together since 2005
Since 2005, SCA Timber, working in collaboration with a wood finishing company in Southern China, has licensed the manufacture of window components from Swedish raw material for distribution to customers in Italy and the United Kingdom.

However, the focus has recently shifted to the sale of sawn timber to companies who produce items for the local market. The 1.3 billion Chinese, who are rapidly garnering an increasingly higher standard of living, constitute what is an almost insatiable market.

One such company is Shenzhen Sampo Furniture, the owner of which CEO is Guo Xian Yang. Previously his company manufactured pine furniture for the Japanese market. When demand for furniture in Japan fell, Yang decided to focus on the domestic Chinese market instead.

Today, his company has more than 70 stores in 20 or so Chinese cities. In a few years, he estimates he will be selling his furniture in more than 500 stores. "I work from the conviction that each store will generate sales of USD 100,000 a month," notes Yang delightedly.

Wood finishing for the export market
Another customer category in China being prioritised by SCA is those companies which manufacture products for the export market. Simon Wang is CEO of Zhanjiang Huapin Wooden Products, whose 300 employees produce doors made from pine, primarily for customers in the UK and Ireland, but also for customers in the Middle East.

"We make around 150,000 door sets per year," says Wang, "both in solid and veneered woods. But we're now also taking a look at furnishing components such as panels and mouldings, made from both pine and spruce."

Wholesalers and distributors
A third customer category for SCA in China is timber wholesalers and distributors on the domestic market. One of these companies is Jiang Men Gao Hong, which will soon be celebrating 10 years of importing wood raw material intended for use in sauna furnishing and furniture manufacture.