North America Lumber Production, Sawmill Capacity Utilization: Full-Year 2021
Full-year 2021 softwood lumber production in the US rose by +0.7% from the previous year, says the latest issue of the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track. Due to the British Columbia railway and highway washouts and mudslides in November, Canadian lumber production and capacity utilization rates fell drastically in December 2021.
Meanwhile in Canada, for full-year 2021 production volumes increased moderately, as they had been for most of last year. Canada sawmill manufacturing grew by +2.8%, to 23,711 mmfbm, compared to 2020 when it was 23,055 mmfbm. Specifically in British Columbia, sawmill production volumes for 2021 grew by +3.8%, to 9,255 mmfbm, compared to 2020 when it was 8,921 mmfbm.
For just December however, when British Columbia sawmills could not ship wood due to the highway and railway damage, lumber manufacturing was down almost -24%, to 573 mmfbm, compared to 753 mmfbm in November, and was down more than -23% compared to December 2020 when it was 748 mmfbm.
US sawmill production as a per cent of practical capacity for 2021 dropped to 84%, compared to 2020 when it was 86%, said the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track.
Ending the year with a huge decrease, Canada’s sawmill capacity utilization rate for 2021 was only 79% compared to 2020 when it was a very low 78%.