Author: kkosman

US Housing Total Starts August 2020 & Benchmark Softwood Lumber Prices September 2020 The USA purchases approximately 65% of Canadian lumber production mostly for construction framing, while Canadian buyers account for about 10%, and those in Japan take 6%.However: US and Canadian customers purchase mostly standard grades (#2&Btr), while Japan buys almost exclusively premium or…

Madison’s indicated last week that most standard construction framing dimension softwood lumber commodities could level off or even start dropping, and that’s exactly what has happened. Players and industry insiders say that supply is improving as sawmills are able to get more lumber production online, just as the usual seasonal drop in demand arrives. However,…

The USA purchases approximately 65% of Canadian lumber production, while Canadian buyers account for about 10%, and those in Japan take 6%. However: US and Canadian customers purchase mostly standard grades (#2&Btr), while Japan buys almost exclusively premium or “appearance” grades (J-grade) which sells for quite a bit more than standard grade does.It’s true that…

The US Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported September 9 US rail traffic for the week ending September 5, 2020, as well as volumes for August 2020.US railroads originated 898,227 carloads in August 2020, down -15%, or 156,797 carloads, from August 2019. US railroads also originated 1,122,954 containers and trailers in August 2020, up +3%,…

Here is a SNEAK PEAK at today’s print for North American construction framing softwood lumber and panel prices: “Fires raged throughout the Pacific Northwest as the pause in lumber sales persisted.” — Madison’s Lumber Reporter In September 2015, the “recent-low” of lumber prices, benchmark commodity Western S-P-F KD 2x4s were selling for US$249 mfbm. The…