At this time of year it is usual for softwood lumber prices to be lowering, as end-users would be stocked-up on inventory needs for ongoing building projects, and sawmills would be slowing down as normal seasonal closures and curtailments come into effect. However, this year — having largely stopped production during spring as industry responded to Covid19 infections — softwood lumber producers across North America are still operating at relatively high capacity levels. Inventories in the field remain sketchy to…

Read More Read More

For the first three months of 2020 softwood lumber production in the US improved further compared to one-year-ago, increasing on the previous month’s rise, says the latest issue of the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track. For January to March 2020 US lumber production volume increased by another +5.2% to 9,161 mfbm compared to the first three months of 2019 when it was 8,708 mfbm. Comparing the month of March to February 2020, US softwood lumber production was flat…

Read More Read More

Key softwood lumber market weekly comment: “Even the Canadian and American national holidays couldn’t slow down red hot demand in the market this week.” https://madisonsreport.com North America Construction Framing Dimension Softwood Lumber Prices updated July 6, 2020 (CLICK TABLE TO ENLARGE)

The US Association of American Railroads (AAR) Friday reported US rail traffic for the week ending June 27, 2020, as well as volumes for June 2020. US railroads originated 794,256 carloads in June 2020, down -22%, or 228,975 carloads, from June 2019. US railroads also originated 1,004,933 containers and trailers in June 2020, down -7%, or 70,994 units, from the same month last year. Combined US carload and intermodal originations in June 2020 were 1,799,189, down -14%, or 299,969 carloads…

Read More Read More

Outlays for construction projects in the US fell -2.1% in May at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of US$1.36 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Residential construction fell -3.9% in May, while spending on public construction projects rose +1.2%.  Spending in April was revised to a -3.5% fall from the prior estimate of a -2.9% drop. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of US$1,001 billion, -3.3% below the revised April estimate of US$1,035 billion. Residential…

Read More Read More

New Single-Family Sales Up +13% Compared to May 2019 Sales of new single-family homes in the United States jumped +17% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 676 thousand in May of 2020. However, data for April was revised sharply lower to 580 thousand, from 623 thousand. Still, May’s figure is the highest in three months. Sales jumped +46% in the Northeast (to 32 thousand), +29% in the West (to 169 thousand), and +15% in the South (to 402 thousand) but…

Read More Read More

The big surge in plywood prices of two weeks ago “Plywood Prices’ Major Surge While Most Softwood Lumber Prices Moderate”, was followed last week by a spike in most softwood lumber commodity prices.As Madison’s detailed in that post last week, “A spike in demand, whether for immediate repair needs or longer-term rebuilding, for Plywood and Oriented Strand Board (OSB) always causes a surge in price.” Sure enough, this week the price of Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&Btr rose significantly. In…

Read More Read More

Prices updated June 26, 2020 (CLICK TABLE TO ENLARGE) Key comment: “Plywood continued to lead the charge as virtually every solid wood commodity advanced in price again last week.”

The full Madison’s Lumber Reporter North America softwood lumber price list will be updated as usual first thing tomorrow morning (Friday) Eastern time. Here is a SNEAK PEAK at benchmark Western Spruce-Pine-Fir (WSPF) prices:Bouncing spectacularly as customers have trouble finding supplies of the wood they need, the wholesaler price of benchmark softwood lumber item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&Btr for the week ending June 26, 2020, was US$436 mfbm, an increase of +$42, or +10%, from last week when it…

Read More Read More