U.S. bamboo flooring production seems poised to become a reality if the plans recently announced by Resource Fiber Inc. come to fruition. Production of any bamboo construction materials has been virtually unheard of in the United States. The primary reason is simply that the raw material is grown extensively in the same parts of the world where manufacturing costs are low. Therefore, flooring and other finished bamboo products have historically tended to be sourced exclusively from offshore locales.
Now, however, U.S. bamboo production has found a potential foothold in the former cotton fields of Alabama. Resource Fiber officials identified this part of the country as an ideal growing environment. Both the soil type and the weather are particularly bamboo-friendly. While attempts to transition from cotton to other crops such as soft wood timber have been only marginally successful, bamboo’s resistance to wind and rain extremes makes it a good match for the local climate.
Resource Fiber’s business plan for U.S. bamboo flooring production is vertically integrated. Local farmers who grow bamboo will have a guaranteed buyer and be able to allocate acreage and harvests accordingly. The company is concurrently developing proprietary equipment to make the harvest of bamboo more automated than is the case in Asia, where it’s still mostly cut by hand.
Bamboo flooring is a sustainable, plentiful and cost effective competitor to conventional hardwoods. Particular varieties of bamboo are durable and resistant to absorption. Since bamboo is technically a grass, not a tree, it might come as a surprise that some forms of the plant are as tough and resilient as red oak, a traditional flooring material in this country.
Over the next two decades, Resource Fiber projects about 100,000 acres of Alabama farmland may be planted for U.S. bamboo production. The first domestic crops should be ready for harvest in 10 years. Until then, Resource Fiber will begin producing bamboo flooring from imported harvests.
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