The Source for Canadian and U.S. Construction Framing Softwood Lumber and Panel Prices

The Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend brought a not-surprising further drop in prices of most benchmark construction framing dimension softwood lumber commodities, as the days got increasingly shorter and the weather turned ever more winter-like. Demand across North America was almost entirely for small fill-in orders, while sawmills were preoccupied with locating shipments long-ago sent to customers but still not arrived.The big question on the mind of industry players is, “Where is the softwood lumber price bottom and when will that…

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US softwood lumber production and sawmill capacity utilization rates continued to improve in July 2020 but those in Canada experienced drops compared to the previous month. Compared to one-year-ago, for January – July 2020 softwood lumber production in the US increased previous improvements, up by +3.2%, says the latest issue of the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track. In the first seven months of this year, US lumber production volume was 21,307 mfbm compared to the same time in…

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As previously stated by Madison’s, for US home building activity and thus softwood lumber demand, “Labour Day is the beginning of the end and US Thanksgiving is the end of the end”. Canadian Thanksgiving is somewhere in the middle of these important dates, so provides a good indication of what is happening with lumber prices as US housing slows down into the winter season.Last week most sawmills reported order files of three weeks or longer, which is quite strong for…

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Canadian softwood lumber production decreased -7.4% from June to 4,491 thousand cubic metres in July, said Statistics Canada Friday. Production was +1.5% higher than in July 2019. Canada’s sawmills shipped 4,553 thousand cubic metres of lumber in July, down -4.2% from June and down -0.7% from July 2019. Lumber companies in the US reached record profits thanks to high lumber prices and declining sawlog costs Record high lumber prices in the US, stable income for residual chips, and slightly lower costs for sawlogs moved…

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Privately-owned US housing starts in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,416,000, the Commerce Department said. This is -5% below the revised July estimate of 1,492,000, but is +3% above the August 2019 rate of 1,377,000. Total starts were up +3% year-over-year compared to August 2019. The dip in housing starts was driven by a -25% decline in multifamily construction activity. Single-family housing starts in August were at a rate of 1,021,000; this is +4% above the…

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There was more confusion in the North American construction framing dimension softwood lumber market last week as prices of most home building solid wood commodity items stayed flat, except Eastern S-P-F which did correct down somewhat. The supply-demand balance seemed to be finding an even keel, although customers still were reluctant to make big purchases at unprecedented highs. The latest US data for housing starts, home sales, and house prices all show phenomenal increases, indicating very strong demand for real…

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Fast on the heels of sharply-upward US existing home sales data earlier this week, US new home sales for August are also up significantly. Please see details of existing home sales release here: https://madisonsreport.com/2020/09/22/u-s-house-prices-hit-record-high-as-existing-home-sales-jump-to-14-year-peak/Sales of new US single-family homes increased to their highest level in nearly 14 years in August, suggesting the housing market continued to gain momentum. The Commerce Department said on Thursday new home sales rose +5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.011 million units last…

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While most construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices stayed flat last week, prices of Plywood and Oriented Strand Board did increase — as Madison’s had indicated they might. The early-season storms in the US southeast as well as ongoing wildfires in the US west have propped up demand of wood panel products for rebuilding and reconstruction at a time of year when sawmills are usually reducing production. Sales of softwood lumber do seem to be slowing down, which is normal…

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Existing home sales in the US, which account for the bulk of home sales, jumped +10.5% on a year-on-year basis to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6 million units for August. Compared to July, the increase was +2.4% , which the highest level since December 2006 and marked three straight months of gains. Single-family home sales advanced +2% in August. While multi-family home sales increased +8.6%, they accounted for 10.5% of sales, down from the 12% that is considered…

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