“Where will it end? No one knows,” one experienced eastern US trader exclaimed in astonishment Friday morning. There can be no true answer to this until the horrifying (and seemingly NOT improving) railway backlog started well in 2Q 2017 is unravelled, not to be till July this year said one of the two major Canadian carriers to it’s forestry customers a couple of weeks ago. Once wood is again moving smoothly and sawmills can ship product out already made, then…

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The value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities increased 3.1% to $8.4 billion in March, following a 2.8% decline in February. The rise was mainly the result of higher construction intentions for multi-family dwellings, particularly in Quebec and British Columbia, and, to a lesser extent, by the commercial component. Canada Residential sector: Rise in multi-family component offsets decline in single-family component Municipalities issued $5.4 billion worth of residential building permits in March, up 2.3% from February. A notable increase in the multi-family component more…

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The prices of most building materials increased in April, according to the latest Producer Price Index release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the count of unfilled jobs in the US construction sector increased in March and approached the post-Great Recession high level. According to the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey and NAHB analysis, released Tuesday, the number of open construction sector jobs increased to 248,000 in March. Elsewhere, ninety-one per cent of US remodellers reported shortages…

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Last week the Canadian forest products industry received very welcome news from one of the nation’s railroads which could only leave them overjoyed: CN Rail says it will purchase 350 riserless centrebeam lumber cars to meet growing demand for forest products despite lower segment revenues in the first quarter, according to Canadian Press. Rail Logistics Update, Canada The new cars will be manufactured by National Steel Car Ltd. at its assembly plant in Hamilton, ON, with deliveries expected to begin…

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A few weeks ago Madison’s noticed some dangerous and alarming mis-reporting on the part of the other two publications which track North American lumber and panel prices. Subscribers who follow Madison’s on Twitter https://twitter.com/LumberNews and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/madison’s-lumber-reporter/ will have seen the drama unfolding. We think the comparative North America softwood lumber prices trend graphs below are self explanatory, and will simply drop this here to let readers make their own assessment: Don’t Go With the Wrong Guys, Go With the…

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This morning the Canadian forest products industry received news from one of the nation’s railroads which could only leave them overjoyed: CN Rail says it will purchase 350 riserless centrebeam lumber cars to meet growing demand for forest products despite lower segment revenues in the first quarter, according to Canadian Press late Wednesday. The new cars will be manufactured by National Steel Car Ltd. at its assembly plant in Hamilton, ON, with deliveries expected to begin in September. CN said…

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According to the US Census Bureau and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development last week, sales of new homes in the US rose by +4% over the month of March to reach a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 694,000. Year-to-date, covering 1Q 2018, the total number of new homes sold is +10.3% ahead of its pace over the first three quarters of 2017. The increase in new home sales over the month also reflects a +7.9% upward revision in…

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Monumentally-frustrated North American forest operators were astonished last week to receive word from a major Canadian railroad that the egregious logistics and supply chain problems of last winter will not be unwound until July. Those Canadian sawmill facilities which are at the mercy of one or the other of the two Canadian rail operators have no recourse but to suffer for the next several months, even as US demand for softwood lumber is showing itself to be on an absolute…

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