Category: Weekly Softwood Lumber Blog

Western SPF: USA Tumble The economic repercussions of COVID-19 continued to unfold last week as Western Spruce-Pine-Fir purveyors in the US had a hard time securing consistent sales at anything other than crazy prices. Suppliers had wildly variable inventories of on-ground stock and spot-counters of up to $50 per thousand were not uncommon. Sawmill order…

North American softwood lumber sawmills sold wood at a wide range of prices last week, as some refused to go lower than their price lists while others just took whatever offers they could get from reluctant buyers. Strangely, demand was not abated. It was, however, again only for highly-specified loads to fill orders wholesalers and…

A recent headline from Metal Miner magazine declares, “U.S. Housing Starts Surge More Than +39% Year-Over-Year in February 2020,” while — describing the same data — Reuters says, “U.S. Housing Starts Fall Less Than Expected in February 2020.” Who to believe? Well, both.Housing starts in the US dropped -1.5% in February 2020, pulled down by…

Sawmill operators across Canada and the US chopped softwood lumber prices last week (03/30/20) by a wide margin in response to: wavering demand; both surpluses and shortages with supply (depending on who was being asked for which commodity); and, yet more transportation issues than the previous week. A two-tiered market was in full force, as…

North American construction framing softwood lumber prices of most commodities (US$ per mfbm, net FOB sawmill) continued dropping last week amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. — Madison’s Lumber Reporter Weekly North America #Softwood #Lumber Prices: Movers and Shakers In week ending March 27, 2020, the price of benchmark softwood lumber commodity Western Spruce-Pine-Fir 2×4 #2&Btr…