-
British Columbia Government Changes to the Manufactured Forest Products Regulation (MFPR)
The British Columbia government announced Thursday changes to the Manufactured Forest Products Regulation (MFPR) around export requirements for sawn-wood products and lumber made from western red cedar or cypress go into effect Sept. 30, 2020. These changes are intended to increase the amount of processing of wood products done within British Columbia, leading to more…
-
US Housing Starts August & Softwood Lumber Prices September: 2020
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…
-
Softwood Lumber Prices Flatten or Drop Slightly as Autumn Comes On
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,…
-
Canada & Japan Housing Starts: July 2020 and Softwood Lumber Prices: August
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…
-
North America Rail Traffic, Lumber: Aug 2020
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%,…
