As the end of September approached the demand and sales of construction framing dimension softwood lumber commodities improved significantly, enough for prices to rise somewhat. This is an unusual time of year, after Labour Day, for solid wood building material prices to be rising. However, the current trend does echo the price movement of last…

Lumber end-users and resellers alike shed their reluctance of the past few months to make purchases, as prices have returned to what would be considered historically “normal” levels. Once again lumber inventories were extremely lean, as those who could wait to buy wood did so. The previously stratospheric price levels of spring were a long-distant…

The U.S. Census Bureau and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development released September 24 new home sales and house price data. New home sales comprise 10% of real estate activity and are considered a leading housing market indicator as they are recorded when contracts are signed. Continuing to recover after slight drops in…

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported September 22 US and Canadian rail traffic volumes for the week ending September 18, 2021. US railroads originated 234,790 carloads and 270,832 intermodal units for the week ending September 18, 2021, up +3.5% and down -8.5% respectively from the same week last year. Total combined US rail traffic…

After falling by -7% in July, US total housing starts for August 2021 increased by +4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.615 million. For August 2021, total residential starts in the US shot up by +12.3% from the same month one year ago, when it was 1.416 million. Improving further over gains throughout…

After a big lull in sales and steeply falling lumber prices — albeit from unsustainable highs — for the week ending September 10, 2021, sales volumes improved further and with that lumber prices again increased. As often repeated by Madison’s: Labour Day long weekend provides good indication of whether lumber sales will slow to the…

Madison’s Sawmill Listings Lumber Directory: Now Available The integration of Madison’s Sawmill Lumber Listings Directory with Blue Book Services’ Lumber Blue Book directory has been completed and is now available for purchase!

The adoption of the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) in December 2010 changed the landscape of timber imports for the European Union, Australia, and the United States. No longer did these regions import illegally harvested exotic timber from countries on the African continent, and Indonesia, Myanmar, Sarawak, etc. As the EUTR regulations came into use,…

September 3, 2021 — Customers who had been waiting on the sidelines since spring, to see how far down lumber prices would go, returned to the scene and booked significant purchases in the week before the Labour Day long weekend. Sawmills gleefully extended order files as secondary suppliers — who had been running on lean…

August 27, 2021 — Many customers had been waiting on the sidelines over this summer before making their lumber purchases, to see when prices would hit bottom. As it became apparent over the past two weeks that prices were on their way back up, the bulk of the market stepped in to commit to purchases.…

Is the softwood lumber supply-demand balance reaching equilibrium? We will only know in the coming weeks … check back often: For July 2021, total residential starts in the US improved by +2.5% from the same month one year ago, and dropped by -7% from June 2021. Indicating strong construction activity still to come for this…

The U.S. Census Bureau and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development released July 26 new home sales and house price data. New home sales comprise 10% of real estate activity and are considered a leading housing market indicator as they are recorded when contracts are signed. Benchmark Softwood Lumber Prices August and US…

Certain Softwood Lumber Products From Canada: Notice of Court Decision Not in Harmony With the Final Results of Countervailing Duty Expedited Review; Notice of Rescission of Final Results of Expedited Review; Notice of Amended Cash Deposit Rates As we know, the US Administrative Review of softwood lumber duties on imports from Canada this past spring…

August 20, 2021 — While there were some construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices that continued to drop for the week ending August 20, several prices were flat while others actually popped up. Many in the industry suggest a combination of correction with the supply-demand balance, and eager customers returning to buy after holding off…