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Japan Housing Starts: December 2017
According to a report released by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on January 31st, Japan’s housing starts in December 2017 were 76,751 units (down -2.1 per cent from the same month in the previous year), falling below the previous year’s results for six consecutive months, according to the Japan Lumber Journal Thursday.…
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Canada Sawmills: November 2017
Lumber production at Canadian sawmills fell -1 per cent from October, with sawmills producing 5,929 thousand cubic metres of lumber in November, said Statistics Canada February 8. Production was -1.5 per cent lower than in November 2016. Sawmills shipped 5,656 thousand cubic metres of lumber in November, down -3.9 per cent from October and -4.8…
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Softwood Lumber Prices Are Elevated and Might Just Correct Downward
Transportation problems continued to plague softwood lumber suppliers and customers, providing opportunity for producers to keep prices up as they could legitimately not say when wood ordered two weeks ago would get delivered. In this new reality of the forest industry, it is becoming apparent that demand for uses beyond only US home building is…
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US Household Formations, Home Prices: 4Q 2017
The US homeownership rate stands at 64.2% in 4Q 2017, up from 63.7% a year ago and 63.9% in 3Q according to the Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey, released January 30. US Household Formations, Home Prices: 4Q 2017 After dropping to a cycle low of 62.9% in 2Q 2016, the national homeownership rate seems to…
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Confusion and Volatility Did Little to Stymie Softwood Lumber Demand: Feb 14, 2018
Last week has started to come out actual data of timber supply loss due to wildfires in northwest North America, and it’s really bad. Details to come. Otherwise, lumber demand continued strong even as customers digested the rush of wood ordered three weeks ago. As extreme transportation woes continued unabated, sawmills took to quoting on…
