FESBC Accepts More Funding Applications, Canadian First Nation Group Seeks to Reduce Fossil Fuel Dependence FESBC Accepts More Funding Applications The Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) recently announced its seventh intake for funding applications. Applications were accepted through the FESBC Information Management System from September 28th to October 16th, with a focus on projects…

After some big drops last month, the price of most North American construction framing dimension softwood lumber commodities fell further last week but by smaller amounts. The supply-demand balance seems to be correcting, due to ongoing strong customers appetite even as the usual autumn slow-down for building activity is upon us. Sawmill order files have…

For the week ending Oct 24, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 522,653 carloads and intermodal units, up +2% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending October 24 were 227,543 carloads, down -6.5% compared with the same week in 2019, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 295,110 containers and…

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…

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…

“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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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. …

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.…

The Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend brought a not-surprising further drop in prices of most benchmark construction framing dimension softwood lumber commodities, as the days got increasingly shorter and the weather turned ever more winter-like. Demand across North America was almost entirely for small fill-in orders, while sawmills were preoccupied with locating shipments long-ago sent to…

US softwood lumber production and sawmill capacity utilization rates continued to improve in July 2020 but those in Canada experienced drops compared to the previous month. Compared to one-year-ago, for January – July 2020 softwood lumber production in the US increased previous improvements, up by +3.2%, says the latest issue of the Western Wood Products…