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Building Materials Price Index, US: December 2016
The price of softwood lumber rose by 2.3 per cent in December, while prices paid for ready-mix concrete, gypsum products, and OSB all fell, according to the latest Producer Price Index release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics January 13. The 2.3 per cent increase in the softwood lumber price index is the largest monthly…
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US Railcar Loadings, Trucking Index: January 2017
The Association of American Railroads Wednesday reported week ending January 14, 2017 total US weekly rail traffic was 516,229 carloads and intermodal units, up 2 per cent from the same week last year. US Railcar Loadings, Trucking Index: January 2017 Total carloads for the week ending January 14 were 253,223 carloads, up 4.4 per cent…
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Japan Housing Starts: November 2016
Housing starts in Japan for November were 85,051 units, a 6.7 per cent increase over 2015 and a 2.5 per cent drop from October, according the Japan Lumber Reports Thursday. Japan Housing Starts: November 2016 The accumulated total of starts for eleven months in 2016 was 888,831, a 6.8 per cent increase over the previous…
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US ITC Confirms “Material Injury”
An email last week from Canada’s federal department of Global Affairs provides the latest updates on this Canada-US softwood lumber dispute: “The US International Trade Commission (ITC) today confirmed that they have preliminarily determined that the US industry is materially injured by virtue of imports of Canadian softwood lumber into the United States. This is…
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US Construction Labour Shortage
Also at the NAHB Design and Construction Week, was a lot of conversation about a looming and serious shortage in skilled construction labour. During a three-hour seminar Wednesday morning, builders shared tips for finding and training newcomers and maintaining ties with their trades when labour is hard to find. US Home Builders and Skilled-Labor Shortage:…
