The latest issue of the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track, for February 2019 – February 2020, shows US lumber production volumes continued previous improvement, this time up by +4.2% over the previous year, to 6,108 mmfbm.February 2019 – February 2020 Canada softwood lumber production has not yet been released by Statistics Canada, but…

Suppliers of Western SPF commodities in the United States were cautiously optimistic to start the month of May. Both primary and secondary suppliers reported a positive tone to the market. Producers extended the bulk of their sawmill order files into late-May. Sales activity of most commodities was solid, with 2×6 #2&Btr R/L the only item…

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) on May 6 reported total US weekly rail traffic for the week ending May 2, 2020 was 416,954 carloads and intermodal units, down -22% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for that week were 189,190 carloads, down -29% compared with the same week in 2019, while…

The full Madison’s Lumber Reporter North America softwood lumber price list will be updated as usual first thing Friday morning Eastern time, however here is a SNEAK PEAK at tomorrow’s benchmark Western Spruce-Pine-Fir (WSPF) prices: After some recovery from steep drops in April last week,The wholesaler price of benchmark softwood lumber item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD…

Improved demand and continued restricted supply last week brought some North American construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices back up to levels of one-month-ago, and indeed to match exactly what prices were at this time last year. The wholesaler price of benchmark softwood lumber commodity item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&Btr (RL) last week gained…

As Madison’s said in mid-April, “only in the future will we know” if North America construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices reached the bottom, or if they would fall further. Given the wee surge last week, we now know that prices have bounced from those lows of two weeks ago. Whether they will remain there…

Marcus Wallenberg Prize supports research on how forests respond to climate change VISUALS LINK FOR MEDIA USE The Faculty of Forestry at University of British Columbia has announced faculty member and Canada Research Chair in Remote Sensing (I), Nicholas Coops, is the recipient of the world’s most prestigious forestry honour, the Marcus Wallenberg Prize.With this distinction, UBC…

In contrast to the sharp plummets of recent weeks, most North American construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices either remained steady or dropped by smaller increments last week as distributors had decent demand from end-users. Supply remained limited to tight, and sawmills held firm on price lists from the previous week as their order files…