Author: kkosman

  • Current Softwood Lumber Prices Compared to Recent and Historical Highs: Nov 6, 2018

    The North America softwood lumber market ended October 2018 in a complete reversal to the rest of the year, and indeed most of 2017. Inventories were plump, customers were silent, producers were just starting to announce seasonal downtime, and secondary suppliers had an abundance of wood on hand. At sawmills, log supply was ample. Sales…

  • Tall Mass Timber Code Proposals Pass

    On Wednesday, October 24, all 14 proposals from the Ad Hoc Committee on Tall Wood Buildings were approved by large margins at the International Code Council (ICC) public comment hearings in Richmond, VA. The Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) commends the American Wood Council (AWC) and its effort in this specially funded initiative by the SLB,…

  • British Columbia South Lumber Workers Join North Strike; Canfor Curtails

    Employees represented by United Steelworkers 1-2017 joined those negotiating in the north with employer group CONIFER last week, by walking off the job Friday morning in Williams Lake, BC, at Tolko’s Soda Creek Division and West Fraser’s Planer, said My Prince George Now. For background info please read: Northern British Columbia Sawmill Workers on Strike:…

  • US Construction Spending: September 2018

    A very good indicator of current construction activity, thus future lumber prices, is US construction spending. New data out this week from the US Commerce Department shows construction spending flat in September 2018 after a 0.8 per cent rise in August, said the New York Times Thursday. Spending on US construction projects was essentially unchanged in…

  • Negotiations between Conifer and the United Steelworkers Union …

    Further to Madison’s story yesterday about the south interior of British Columbia issuing a 72-hour strike notice https://madisonsreport.com/2018/10/31/united-steelworkers-issue-72-hour-strike-notice-to-iflra/ This morning comes word that Negotiations between Conifer and the United Steelworkers Union representing sawmill workers across Northern BC have cooled for the time being, said My Prince George Now. However, the action is starting to heat…