It is widely acknowledged that in British Columbia the utilization of forest residue (wood fibre leftover after timber harvesting) is very low compared to most other jurisdictions. In the past, the cost of moving this cumbersome, oddly-sized material compared to the easy availability of further timber stands, has been the reason for so much of…

A couple of weeks ago it was panel (OSB and plywood) prices that saw spectacular rebounds, this week Douglas fir green 2×4 prices recovered back to one-month-ago levels. A strong undercurrent of sales activity allowed US sawmills to keep most of their prices flat from last week as many buyers couldn’t avoid coming back to…

After flattening out last month, the latest issue of the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track, for January-August 2019, shows US softwood lumber production volume continues almost flat from the same time last year, to 23,737 mmfbm. Like last month, January – August softwood lumber production in Canada continued big drops through most of…

The size of the global wood pellet market for 2019 was estimated to be valued at over US$8.5 billion, and is estimated to exhibit over 10% CAGR from 2019 to 2025, said Global Markets Insights October 2019. Over 22 million tons of wood pellets were shipped globally in 2018, up 21% from 2017. The US,…

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 benchmark WSPF prices: After jumping another +$18 last week, The price of benchmark softwood lumber item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&Btr stayed flat this week, Nov…

Data released Monday from the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) indicate that construction job openings in the US increased in September 2019 on a year-over-year basis. The estimated number of job openings declined from the August total to 338,000 in September, after reaching a post-Great Recession high of 434,000 in April. The September 2019…

Veteran solid wood processors and sellers like to say, “Labour Day is the beginning of the end, and US Thanksgiving is the end of the end” for large-volume lumber sales. The business of manufacturing and distributing North American construction framing dimension softwood lumber is directly tied to US home building and remodelling activity. As darkness…

After declines for six consecutive quarters, the home building component of gross domestic product (GDP) in the US increased during 3Q 2019. This gain was due to the housing rebound that has taken hold since the spring, with the pace of single-family permits rising since April and the rate of single-family starts increasing since May.…

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 benchmark WSPF prices: After rising +$8 last week, The price of benchmark softwood lumber item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&Btr jumped this week, Oct 31, 2019,…

This week started with big news as Canfor announced a bid to go private, and Conifex sold its Fort St James timber rights to Hampton, which plans to build a new sawmill within 36 months. Last week, construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices rose slightly, while Oriented Strand Board and Plywood prices absolutely soared. There…