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Panel Prices Increase Somewhat, Lumber Flat
Potentially signalling a plateau in lumber prices, at least for the time being, benchmark softwood lumber commodity items stayed flat again last week while plywood prices lost almost all the gains of the previous week. However, supply remained incredibly tight as customers still had to search around for the specific items they wanted at prices…
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US Housing Starts February & Softwood Lumber Prices March: 2021
Most of North America remained in the grip of truly harsh winter weather last month, so it’s no surprise that February housing starts in the US continued drops seen in January. Compared to February 2020 total residential starts in the US last month fell by -9.3% to a 1.42 million annualized rate, from 1.57 in…
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Benchmark Softwood Lumber Prices Flat as Demand Flows to Alternate Commodities
Prices of benchmark softwood lumber items, like standard grade #2&Btr R/L stayed mostly flat for the week of March 5 — particularly on the west side — as customer demand flowed into other items. FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 5 there was quite a pop in #3/Utility grade and #4/Economy prices across all species and…
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Canada and US Railcar Loadings: Feb 2021
The US Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported March 3 US and Canadian rail traffic volumes for February 2021. US railroads originated 824,636 carloads in February, down -11%, or 102,972 carloads, from February 2020. US railroads also originated 1,015,995 containers and trailers in February, up +2%, or 18,184 units, from the same month last year.Total…
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US Home Sales Jan and Softwood Lumber Prices Feb [video]: 2021 Madison’s Lumber Reporter
New-home purchases account for about 10% of the market and are calculated when contracts are signed. They are considered a timely barometer of the current real estate market. At a very unusual time of year, not when folks normally want to be preparing to move, sales of new single-family houses in the US for January…
