Among forest industry players, all eyes were on the looming spring building even as sentiment continued very cautious.
However extremely lean field inventories, an ongoing condition for about two years, remained. Sawmill kept manufacturing volumes low, waiting for when demand will actually increase before ramping up production. While prices on several commodity groups rose, this was more a function of restricted supply and delayed transportation times than a bump in demand.
Conversations focussed on the future 60- to 90-days time frame as buyers and sellers alike tried to gauge where this year’s housing construction levels will be.
There is a perception of return to stability as current price levels match
quite closely with the first two weeks of last year and of 2024. This makes planning for spring somewhat easier, as the great volatility of recent years is truly in the past.
In the week ending January 16, 2026, the price of benchmark softwood lumber item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir 2×4 #2&Btr KD (RL) was US$450 mfbm. This was up +$20, or +4%, from the previous week when it was $426, said weekly forest products industry price guide newsletter Madison’s Lumber Reporter.
That week’s price was up +$58, or +15%, from one month ago when it was $392.
Prices of many lumber and studs items increased somewhat while that of panels lagged behind.
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KEY TAKE-AWAYS:
- Limitations on supply continued to drive decent overall business for Western-SPF sellers in the US.
- The market was feeling the squeeze of supplies even as winter weather put a damper on building activity.
- Western-SPF sawmill lists in Canada continued to look thin due to marginally better-than-expected demand running up against low supply.
- Price considerations became secondary to access as disruptions to the supply chain continued to occur with unsettling frequency.
- Eastern-SPF price discovery was much more common on a week-to-week basis due to a sustained reduction in overall contract business.
- Inventories of Southern Yellow Pine remained resoundingly undersupplied.
- Eastern stocking wholesalers reported cold weather and apathetic buying kept a lid on overall business.
- Vendors who wanted to get wood on the ground to the ports in New Jersey prior to spring buying were mindful of cross-country transit in winter.
Madison’s Benchmark Top-Six Softwood Lumber and Panel Prices: Monthly Averages
