"The main objective of this thesis is to explain the changing conditions on the Japanese market for imported softwood lumber. The three papers focus on three different aspects of the lumber market, allowing us to better understand the processes influencing the softwood lumber market in Japan. In the first paper, the loss of competitiveness in Japanese forestry is discussed and analysed. In the second paper, the lumber trade from 1961 to 1997 is empirically modelled and factors influencing imports of lumber are identified. The third paper concentrates on the growing import of European lumber during the latter part of the 1990s"--Objective.