The Source for Canadian and U.S. Construction Framing Softwood Lumber and Panel Prices

Madison’s Monthly Softwood Log Prices and Forestry Data Table: September 2020 The British Columbia government announced in mid-September changes to the Manufactured Forest Products Regulation (MFPR), regarding export requirements for sawn-wood products, and Western Red Cedar and Cypress logs, which went into effect Sept. 30, 2020. These changes were intended to increase the amount of processing of wood products done within British Columbia, leading to more B.C. jobs, rather than having that processing done after export. Under the previous MFPR, logs…

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U.S. New Home Sales for September 2020 surge +32% year-on-year; September Existing Home Sales climb to a 14-Year high, up more than +9% compared to August, the fourth straight monthly increase Benchmark Softwood Lumber Prices Oct 2020 & US NEW Home Sales Sept 2020 While New Home Sales are the best indicator of recent lumber use, Sales of Existing Homes are a much larger segment of the real estate market and are a forward indicator of demand for newly-built homes….

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“What goes up must come down,” as the saying goes. Particularly when talking about markets. After holding firm for four weeks while most other species’ prices fell, the price of benchmark construction framing dimension softwood lumber item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&Btr fell a not unexpected -$260, or -27%, to end last week at a still-high US$700 mfbm (net FOB sawmill). Producer order files were down to two weeks or less, which is still quite strong for this time of…

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After holding firm for several weeks while almost all other North American construction framing dimension softwood lumber commodity prices drop, the price of benchmark item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&Btr R/L finally dropped for the week of October 23, said weekly lumber price newsletter Madison’s Lumber Reporter. For the week ending October 23, 2020 the price of benchmark softwood lumber commodity item Western S-P-F KD 2×4 #2&Btr dropped -$260, or -37%, to US$700 mfbm (net FOB sawmill), from US$960 mfbm…

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October 21, 2020 – Vancouver, BC, Canada Madison’s Lumber Reporter After dropping a little bit in August due to a plummet in multi-family home building, privately-owned US housing starts in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,415,000, the US Commerce Department said Tuesday. This is +2% above the revised August rate of 1,388,000 and is and astonishing +8.1% above the September 2019 rate of 1,274,000. For the week ending October 16, 2020, the price of benchmark construction…

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Last week producer and wholesaler dimension softwood lumber prices across North America dropped, as expected for this time of year. However, US housing starts data for September 2020 is incredibly strong, so the expectation is that — given ongoing very high demand — asking prices will not approach the low levels of 2019. It is safe to say that a price floor has been reached, although where exactly that will land remains to be seen. Madison’s Lumber Reporter expects that…

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The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released its Remodelling Market Index (RMI) in 3Q 2020 today, posting a reading of 82, which indicates strong remodeller sentiment, as business has strengthened while home owners focus on the importance of home for work and life amidst the pandemic and its consequences. The strong finding is a signal of residential remodellers’ strong confidence in their markets, for projects of all sizes. The demand for home improvement is robust given the importance of…

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The fact that US home sales are outpacing construction starts to this degree indicates additional home building lies ahead. US home building has staged a dramatic rebound, said the US National Association of Home Builders today. In fact, supported by low mortgage rates, an evolving geography of housing preferences, and favorable demographic tailwinds, housing demand has improved so quickly that the current difference between the pace of newly-built single-family home sales and for-sale single-family construction starts has reached a historic level. The adjusted…

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Actual (not seasonally adjusted) Canadian home sales activity posted a +46% y-o-y gain in September 2020. It was a new record for the month of September by a margin of some 20,000 transactions. Canada’s national home sales rose +1% on a month-over-month basis in September 2020.  Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was up +46% year-over-year.  The number of newly listed properties fell back by -10% from August to September.  The MLS® Home Price Index rose +1.3% m-o-m and was up…

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Finally a date from the US Commerce Department, VIA Madison’s long-time connection, customs broker working the Canada/US border: A written response has arrived from the U.S. DOC’s Office of AD/CVD Enforcement and Compliance. It is their “understanding” that the effective date for the new adjusted softwood lumber AD/CVD cash deposit rates, is now November 23rd. — Michael D. Jones, President Jones & Jones Customs Brokers and Trade Consultants 638 Peace Portal Drive –  Suite 202 Blaine, Washington 98230 Cells: Michael…

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