The full Madison’s Lumber Reporter North America softwood lumber price list will be updated as usual first thing Friday morning Eastern time, however here is a SNEAK PEAK at tomorrow’s benchmark WSPF prices: After staying flat for the past three weeks, The wholesaler price of benchmark softwood lumber item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&Btr for Dec 19 popped up $4 on tight inventories, to US$398 mfbm (net FOB sawmill), from US$394 mfbm last week. — Madison’s Lumber Reporter This week’s…

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It was not a surprise to Madison’s Lumber Reporter Tuesday morning when the latest US housing starts data showed continued improvement. Such a strong end to what turned out to be a pretty good year for North American construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices — after a terrifying start — bodes well for 2020. This Friday will be the last lumber price update for the year, and Madison’s is advising that lumber sales will start out hot right at the…

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The United States and Mexico have confirmed an agreement has been reached on a new North American free trade deal. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in Washington Tuesday morning that congressional Democrats were supportive of the changes. Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal said completion of the deal came after a round of intense discussions and phone calls between key parties over the weekend. The new version of the deal between Canada, the US, and Mexico, will get…

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Continuing flat, as last month, the latest issue of the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track, for January-September 2019, shows US softwood lumber production volume still basically flat from from the same time last year, to 26,616 mmfbm. Like last month, January – September softwood lumber production in Canada continued big drops since the beginning of this year, once more falling -11%, to 18,608 mmfbm, compared to the first nine months of 2018 when it was 20,889 mmfbm. In…

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Please find below the results of Madison’s most recent investigation into questions regarding a possible difference between North American softwood lumber prices into USA and those domestically within Canada, in view of the latest US softwood lumber duty, submitted to federal government of Canada (September 30, 2019): Download Full Report: Canada Domestic Softwood Lumber Price 2019 SEPT OVERVIEW OF CURRENT NORTH AMERICAN LUMBER MARKET: 3Q 2019 The question at hand: • is there apparently a price difference between Canadian sales…

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Thankfully the work stoppage on CN Rail ended — as of mid-day Tuesday — which was soon enough to avoid truly negative impact on Canada’s forest industry. After achieving dizzying highs in summer 2018, most standard construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices are now higher than last month and one year ago, while specialty lumber items remain lower than one year ago. For now at least.Not unexpected at this time of year, another major sawmill curtailment, this time by Canfor,…

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The US National Association of Realtors said Thursday that sales of existing homes in the US rose +1.9% in October 2019 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.46 million units. That’s +4.6% higher than a year ago. US existing home sales October 2019 up +1.9% to 5.46 million units, Median existing home prices up +6.2% to US$270,900 As well, the NAR’s measure of median US existing home prices rose +6.2% in October from a year earlier, to US$270,900. That’s…

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US Townhouse Construction: 3Q 2019 According to US National Association of Home Builders analysis of the most recent US Census Dept data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, townhouse construction may be nearing the end of its recent slowdown, showing relatively flat construction conditions for 3Q 2019. Nonetheless, townhouse construction is set for further expansion given the demographics of renters entering the for-sale market, as well as ongoing land constraints and the growth of demand for walkable neighborhoods. Over…

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An unfortunate truth of life, economics, and physics is that not all things can go up at the same time. Once up, they don’t always stay there. This is a week of mixed news: US home building activity continues to improve, but in Canada forest operators are facing work-stoppage with one of the two railways. In regards to this CN Rail strike; usually these last just a few days. However, at this time the House of Commons does not sit…

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