Statistical Analysis Of Government And Official Websites (Essay Sample)

Statistical analysis of government and official websites
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Statistical analysis of government and official websites
Overview
The use of timber in regards to carpentry, interior construction and overall house construction has remained high in Western Switzerland in recent years. However, it has not always been a rosy affair for the timber construction sector in Switzerland. The sector has been characterized by highs and lows over the years leading to what it is currently. Hitherto 2016, forestry sector in Switzerland was characterized by a weak euro. The exchange rate adjustment by the Swiss National bank had major impact on the trade on timber products. An average of 95% of Switzerland timber products are exported to continental Europe (Switzerland Federal office of environment). In particular, paper base industries and derived timber products export a huge percentage of their products into Europe. As a result of a rise in the costs of production, these industries were fast losing competitiveness. Below is an in-depth analysis of the statistics of the prefabricate timber-frame house production in Western Switzerland.
Outlook
Despite significant economic setback suffered by Switzerland in 2015, the overall outlook picture of the economy conceals that:
* The increasing popularity of timber and a strong construction sector ensured a stable and continued demand for timber and allied products.
* Buoyancy in construction, especially long term, particularly in residential construction, has increased the demand for saw logs in western Switzerland.
* A strong Swiss franc against the euro has continued to pile pressure on imported products creating a positive impact on domestic products priced in Swiss francs.
* It is projected that the demand for hard saw logs will continue to decline thus creating an increased demand for wood energy locally.
* The demand for industrial wood in Switzerland is projected to remain stable. This is impacted by the relation between Swiss franc and the euro.
The construction of timber houses in Switzerland, particularly residential construction, has picked up tremendously in the last few years buoyed by a strong Swiss franc that has been performing well against world major currencies. The following is a chart depicting the trend in economic growth of Switzerland and how it impacted on production of timber and allied products.
year

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Economic growth in %

-1.9

3

1.8

1

2

2.1

0.8

1.2

Inflation in %

-0.5

0.7

0.2

-0.7

-0.2

0

0.2

0.3

Unemployment rate in %

3.7

3.5

2.8

2.9

3.2

3

3.3

3.5

10 year govt bond( Interest yield in %

2.2

1.6

1.5

0.7

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.2

Currency rate









Euro

1.51

1.38

1.23

1.21

1.23

1.2

1

1.1

USD

1.09

1.04

0.89

0.94

0.93

0.9

0.9

0.9

Economic indicators for Switzerland
As can be observed from the table, Switzerland seems to be recovering from the economic slump that occurred in 2015 when the percentage of growth was 0.8 and has since leapt to 1.2 in the year 2016 and is projected to grow even further in financial year 2017 (Switzerland federal statistics office). This positive growth in the economy also translates to good news for the construction sector. Construction experts in Switzerland are also projecting an in increase in timber-frame construction in industrial cum commercial buildings as well as multi-story constructions (Schuler, 2012, p. 201). The use of timber in regards to carpentry, interior construction and overall house construction has remained stable in Western Switzerland as a result of a stable currency and also as a result of the increasing popularity of timber-frame houses according to reports by Switzerland Federal Statistical office. According to this agency, the capital investments that were invested in timber construction and the training of researchers as well as timber experts, engineers and timber builders have started pay off. This coupled with the new fire safety standards and constructions regulations have also contributed to the high uptake of prefabricate timber-frame houses in Switzerland (Hahn, 2010, p. 195). The new fire regulations became operational on 1 January 2015 and have done a lot to liberate the timber sector from very restrictive conditions especially construction relating to high-rise residential buildings and commercial multi-storey buildings.
The new fire regulations and building standards has created a situation where it is now possible to construct many timber houses which were not possible before. This means that schools, commercial and industrial buildings, tourists’ outlets, offices and other constructions can now be built to a total height of up to 30 meters out of timber (Wieser, 2007, p. 58). In this case, the use of timber components that adds to fire compartments which contains flammable materials is now admissible under the new law, even for high-rise buildings. Good examples of pioneering construction projects done with timber in Switzerland that have revolutionized the industry include; The House of natural resources of the ETH at Zurich, the Wiessenstein Cableway Station Buildings and the Headquarters of the Swatch Group, Biel. These are just a few of outstanding commercial multi-storey buildings that have revolutionized the timber construction industry. Through these examples the world has woken up to the realization that it is possible to have housing solutions both commercial, industrial and residential based on timber.
Development of forest in Switzerland up to mid- 2015
The forest sector in Switzerland was spared the effects of devastating storms as well as the situation of compulsory logging from the year 2008 to mid-2015. The numbers of bark-beetle wood which were high in 2007 declined significantly reaching their lowest level ever in the year 2013. The numbers picked up again in 2015 through to 2015. In 2014, a total of 4.9 cubic meters of wood was logged in Switzerland. This was an increase of 3% more than the previous year (Giordano, 2013, p. 200). This increase in logging of wood was the direct result of increase in demand for timber and allied timber products. These figures are still below wood harvesting statistics for the past 20 years. In the last decade or so, 66% of the wood has been harvested translating to 3.2 million m3 coming from the public sector while 1.2 million m3 came from the private sector. On one hand, the consumption of softwood rose by 3% to 3.18 million m3, while the consumption of hardwood rose by 3.1% to 1.74 million m3. The portion of wood harvested accounted for by soft wood fell from 76% from 2005 to 65% in 2014 (Cienciala, 2010, p. 553). In the same period, the proportion of hardwood consumed increased from 24% to 35%. These figures are a representation of the trends in the development of natural forest which shows two-thirds of the total soft woods declining while one-third of hard wood is on the increase.
Between 2014 and 2015, the market for soft timber was greater impacted by the pressure coming from a weak euro exchange rate. At this point in time, the timber and allied sector had to do with a cut in price following the push and pull between the Swiss franc versus the euro in order to be able to sell their timber both locally and abroad. During this period, the price of fir/spruce saw logs fell by 12.8% from May 2015 to May 2016 where considerably less wood was sold. At the same time, exportation of soft timber logs fell by 3% to 500,000 cubic meters (Gregoire, 2014, p. 120). On the other hand, imports also decreased by 13% to a low of 48,000 cubic meters. This fall down in prices also affected the amount of timber harvested and processed during the same period of time. The federal Office for Statistics indicate that during the period 2015, harvesting and processing of wood energy went down by a slight margin of 0.6% to 1.80 million cubic meters while the harvesting and processing of industrial wood rose to 8.0 percent to a high of 0.54 million cubic meters.
The table below is a representation of the developments of forest in Switzerland from 2010- 2015.
TOTAL FOREST COVER

Forest 1990 (ha)

1,155,000

Forest 2010 (ha)

2.400,000

Forest 2015 (ha)

2,800,000

Annual Change 1990-2000 (ha | %)

4,400

0.38%

Annual Change 2000-2005 (ha | %)

4,400

0.37%

Total Change 1990-2005 (ha | %)

66,000

5.71%

Change in rate (%)

-3.67%

PRIMARY FOREST COVER

Primary 1990 (ha)

3,000

Primary 2010 (ha)

6,000

Primary 2015 (ha)

14,000

Annual Change 1990-2000 (ha | %)

300

10.00%

Annual Change 2000-2005 (ha | %)

1,600

26.67%

Total Change 1990-2005 (ha | %)

11,000

366.67%

Change in rate (%)

166.67%

OTHER WOODED LAND

Other 1990 (ha)

59,000

Other 2010 (ha)

64,000

Other 2015 (ha)

67,000

Annual Change 1990-2015 (ha | %)

500

0.85%

Annual Change 2000-2015 (ha | %)

600

0.94%

Total Change 1990-2015 (ha | %)

8,000

13.56%

Change in rate (%)

10.63%

The economic outlook for timber sector in Switzerland
71% of Switzerland of prod...