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US Building Season 2014
Read more: US Building Season 2014The inside word with forest product industry players this year is that hot US remodelling and DIY activity, as well as continued stable demand for industrials, are keeping North American lumber supplies lean. Many agree that — barring an extreme circumstance — lumber manufacturing volumes have stabilized and solid wood prices have found a floor.…
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UK Rising Wood Imports
Read more: UK Rising Wood ImportsBritish imports of sawn and planed lumber have increased in value by 33 per cent, or almost EUR 50 million in the first two months of 2014, according to the latest figures provided by Eurostat. Imports from the European Union countries, which represent more than 90 per cent of all UK softwood lumber purchases, grew…
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Funding for Canadian Forest Equipment Technology
Read more: Funding for Canadian Forest Equipment TechnologyThe federal government needs to offer money, training and incentives to ensure a technological revolution in the forestry industry creates well-paid jobs at home rather than abroad, according to a new study Natural Resources Canada commissioned to find ways to support Canada’s billion-dollar forestry-equipment sector. Canada’s traditional forestry products — softwood lumber and pulp-and-paper —…
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Global Log and Lumber Markets
Read more: Global Log and Lumber MarketsA purported ‘herd mentality’ in China has brought prices of radiata pine softwood logs for May in New Zealand down sharply. Some industry watchers think the drop is a ‘short term blip’. New Zealand “eastern seaboard log inventories have suddenly risen to close to five million cubic metres. This represents about four months’ supply at…
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Housing Starts, Japan
Read more: Housing Starts, JapanAccording to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan’s housing starts in March were 69,411 units, down 2.9 per cent from the same month in the previous year, said the Japan Lumber Journal Thursday. This marked a year- on-year reduction for the first time in 19 months. Seasonally adjusted annual rate was 896,000…
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US Housing Starts
Read more: US Housing StartsHousing starts in the US jumped in April and building permits hit their highest level in nearly six years, offering hope that the troubled housing market could be stabilizing. The Commerce Department said Friday groundbreaking increased 13.2 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.07 million units, the highest level since November 2013.…
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Containerboard Inventories
Read more: Containerboard InventoriesThe American Forest & Paper Association and the Fibre Box Association Wednesday released April 2014 US box shipment and box plant/containerboard mill inventory data. In April, total inventories in US containerboard mills and box converting plants fell by 92,000 tons compared to the 53,900-ton 10-year average decline seen during the month of April between 2004…
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Mass Timber Building
Read more: Mass Timber BuildingFollowing the success of Australia’s tallest fully timber residential tower, the Forté apartment complex in Melbourne’s Docklands by Lend Lease last year, comes that nation’s tallest timber commercial building. To be located on Sussex Street in Sydney’s central business district, the seven storey building is designed by Fitzpatrick + Partners and delivered by Lend Lease.…
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Current Construction Labour Shortage: US
Read more: Current Construction Labour Shortage: USUS markets grappling with labour shortages for construction projects include Denver, CO, most Texas markets, Minneapolis and Oklahoma, which like Denver, are losing many workers to the oil and gas fields, according to the Wall Street Journal May 1. Builders in South Florida and Charlotte, NC, are having difficulty staffing their construction jobs, too. Construction…
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1Q 2014 Forest Company Results
Read more: 1Q 2014 Forest Company ResultsNorth American forest products companies reporting 1Q 2014 results so far this year include: Canfor, Norbord, Stella Jones, and Catalyst Paper. Canfor, out of Vancouver, BC, April 29 reported adjusted net income of attributable to shareholders of $45.5 million, or 33 cents per share in 1Q. That compares to $61.9 million, or 43 cents per…
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US 1Q 2014 Homes Sales 43 Per Cent All-Cash
Read more: US 1Q 2014 Homes Sales 43 Per Cent All-CashAll-cash purchases accounted for almost 43 per cent of all sales of US residential property in 1Q 2014, up from almost 38 per cent in the previous quarter and 19 per cent in 1Q 2013, according to data released Thursday from real-estate data firm RealtyTrac. Institutional investors — people or companies that have purchased at…
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Interfor Announces . . .
Read more: Interfor Announces . . .Vancouver, BC’s, Interfor Corporation announced Thursday that shareholders have approved proposals to change the Company’s name to Interfor Corporation from International Forest Products Limited, and to simplify the Company’s share structure. The new name is a direct link to the Company’s traditional trade name, and is consistent with the formal names of its US subsidiaries,…
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BC Invests
Read more: BC InvestsThe Government of British Columbia’s has contributed $2.25 million to cellulose filaments (CF) research. The investment will be used as part of an existing R&D program focused on non-traditional applications of cellulose filament (CF) that are of interest to, and most beneficial to BC. FPInnovations’ cellulose filament research and innovation project is the subject of…
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US Pending Home Sales
Read more: US Pending Home SalesContracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes rose in March for the first time in nine months, a sign the housing market could be stabilizing after suffering a setback from a rise in interest rates and a severe winter. The National Association of Realtors said on Monday its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts…
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Wildfire Season
Read more: Wildfire SeasonForecasters predicted earlier this year that, due to an extended period of very dry conditions, parts of the United States are under extreme forest fire danger this season. That warning seemed to be playing out this week when wildfires erupted in California. A thousand-acre wildfire in the foothills east of Los Angeles, CA, didn’t grow…
