The United States and Mexico have confirmed an agreement has been reached on a new North American free trade deal. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in Washington Tuesday morning that congressional Democrats were supportive of the changes. Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal said completion of the deal came after a round of…

Continuing flat, as last month, the latest issue of the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track, for January-September 2019, shows US softwood lumber production volume still basically flat from from the same time last year, to 26,616 mmfbm. Like last month, January – September softwood lumber production in Canada continued big drops since the…

Please find below the results of Madison’s most recent investigation into questions regarding a possible difference between North American softwood lumber prices into USA and those domestically within Canada, in view of the latest US softwood lumber duty, submitted to federal government of Canada (September 30, 2019): Download Full Report: Canada Domestic Softwood Lumber Price…

Thankfully the work stoppage on CN Rail ended — as of mid-day Tuesday — which was soon enough to avoid truly negative impact on Canada’s forest industry. After achieving dizzying highs in summer 2018, most standard construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices are now higher than last month and one year ago, while specialty lumber…

The US National Association of Realtors said Thursday that sales of existing homes in the US rose +1.9% in October 2019 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.46 million units. That’s +4.6% higher than a year ago. US existing home sales October 2019 up +1.9% to 5.46 million units, Median existing home prices up…

US Townhouse Construction: 3Q 2019 According to US National Association of Home Builders analysis of the most recent US Census Dept data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, townhouse construction may be nearing the end of its recent slowdown, showing relatively flat construction conditions for 3Q 2019. Nonetheless, townhouse construction is set for further…

An unfortunate truth of life, economics, and physics is that not all things can go up at the same time. Once up, they don’t always stay there. This is a week of mixed news: US home building activity continues to improve, but in Canada forest operators are facing work-stoppage with one of the two railways.…

North America Forest Fibre Flow Update: 3Q 2019Overview November 8th, 2019 “It will become clear after Labour Day if North America construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices are going to soften further, as they usually do in autumn, or if buyers and sellers have indeed found a new floor. — Madison’s Forest Pulse July 13,…

About 3,200 Canadian National Railway conductors, trainpersons, and yard workers could go on strike just after midnight tonight if a deal isn’t reached with the company, said Canadian Press Monday morning. The Teamsters Canadian Rail Conference, the union representing the employees, gave the required 72-hour notice on the weekend. The union says it hopes to reach…