Canadian Softwood Plywood 9.5mm (3/8″) TORONTO Prices: 1999 compared to 2003 and 2020 Food for thought …. the historical high Plywood prices of 1999 were briefly eclipsed in 2003 due to rebuilding after the devastation of Hurricane Andrew in the US. Mid-season 2020 Plywood prices look to surpass even the boggling highs of 2003. Will…

US Softwood Lumber Production Continues Improvement, Canada Lumber Production Plummets: April 2020 Compared to one-year-ago, for the first four months of 2020 softwood lumber production in the US continued improving, increasing on the rise in March, says the latest issue of the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track. For January to April 2020 US…

Still, US homebuilding remains -24% below its February level.  Housing starts in the US increased +17% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.186 million units last month, the Commerce Department said today. The percentage gain was the largest since October 2016. Data for May was revised up to a 1.011 million-unit pace from the…

On July 10 the US National Association of Home Builders explained current conditions with the North American softwood lumber market. The primary drivers of the price increase include: Sawmills closed in the spring due to stay-at-home and social distancing measures enacted by state and local governments. When prices fell between March and April as a…

The Canadian Real Estate Association said Wednesday that the average price of a Canadian resale home was $539,000, up 6.5 per cent from the average price a year earlier. And it’s up by more than 10 per cent from what it was just one month earlier, in May. Canada’s housing market went into a deep freeze…

“Robust lumber and panel sales continued last week as supply just couldn’t keep up.” — Madison’s Lumber Reporter While demand for construction framing dimension softwood lumber continued to surpass supply last week, it was noticeable that buyer orders to sawmills were slowing down. Indeed, customer interest seemed to shift from the benchmark Western Spruce-Pine-Fir to…

US Softwood Lumber Production Improves in January-February 2020 Compared to One-Year-Ago For the first two months of 2020 softwood lumber production in the US continued improvements compared to one-year-ago, to increase even more, says the latest issue of the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track.For January and February 2020 US lumber production volume increased…

Here is a SNEAK PEAK at benchmark Western Spruce-Pine-Fir (WSPF) prices: Further approaching the latest highs, wholesaler prices of benchmark construction framing dimension softwood lumber item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&Btr for the week ending July 10, 2020, was US$504 mfbm, an increase of +$36, or +7%, from last week when it was US$468. The…

At this time of year it is usual for softwood lumber prices to be lowering, as end-users would be stocked-up on inventory needs for ongoing building projects, and sawmills would be slowing down as normal seasonal closures and curtailments come into effect. However, this year — having largely stopped production during spring as industry responded…

For the first three months of 2020 softwood lumber production in the US improved further compared to one-year-ago, increasing on the previous month’s rise, says the latest issue of the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track. For January to March 2020 US lumber production volume increased by another +5.2% to 9,161 mfbm compared to…

Key softwood lumber market weekly comment: “Even the Canadian and American national holidays couldn’t slow down red hot demand in the market this week.” https://madisonsreport.com North America Construction Framing Dimension Softwood Lumber Prices updated July 6, 2020 (CLICK TABLE TO ENLARGE)