US #softwood #lumber production dropped by -2.8 per cent in July compared to the month prior but grew +5.4 per cent from July 2017, according to statistics from the Western Wood Products Association’s Lumber Track. US lumber production totaled 2,905 million board feet (MMBF) in July. For the first seven months of 2018, US production totaled 20,678 MMBF, edging +5.2 per cent higher than the same period in 2017. For January to July 2018, US production in the West jumped…

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Total housing starts in the US posted a decline in September due to flat conditions for single-family construction and a pullback for apartment development. Total starts declined 5.3% in September but are 6.4% higher for 2018 on a year-to-date basis, according to the joint data release from the Census Bureau and HUD. The pace of single-family starts was roughly flat in September, decreasing 0.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 871,000. Slight gains off the summer soft patch for…

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There have been sawmill closures and curtailments announced in the past week, some due to log supply issues some due to North American softwood lumber market conditions: Western Forest Products Sawmill in Ladysmith, BC, has been shut down since September 21 when a log shortage sparked by this summer’s wildfires emptied out all of its booms out front, said ChekNews Monday. Eighty workers are affected by the shutdown. The smaller trees the Ladysmith mill processes are harvested mainly from the…

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The North American softwood lumber market continued it’s inexorable slide downward toward year-end last week, with prices even further lowered over the week before. After a wild ride into the stratosphere over the summer of 2018, the supply-demand balance corrected sharply in favour of buyers. Manufacturers of solid wood construction framing materials in Canada and the US last week found themselves plump with inventory — both lumber and logs — while customers have largely covered their needs for whatever building…

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Madison’s finds it difficult to convey precisely the level of deep shock at the surprise raid of RISI‘s European offices by securities officials in January 2018. The details are very ugly, and shed light on some extremely serious credibility issues: By CPI on January 16, 2018 “In a statement to the markets, Euromoney confirmed that the European Commission is conducting an unannounced inspection at the Brussels office of its RISI business. The investigation concerns the sector of kraft paper and…

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A sudden uncertainty has arisen for the North American forest products industry, in the form of a possible labour disruption in British Columbia. As announced last week by Madison’s, the United Steelworkers issued strike notice which could affect several BC sawmill operations. Workers have been without a contract since July: United SteelWorkers Issue Strike Notice to Northern British Columbia Sawmills Now, the latest news is that BC sawmill workers have been banned from doing overtime. This makes it difficult to…

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Further to our story last week about recent changes in the US housing market, it seems that — as the US real estate market continues to recover from the epic crash of 2006 — currently foreclosed homes are appreciating faster than the typical US home. According to MarketWatch Monday, homes that were foreclosed on during the recession are rising in value at a breakneck pace. The median crisis-era foreclosed home increased 10.3% in value over the past year, versus just…

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This was a week with a lot of important news coming out: Canada signed the USMCA, which does not mention softwood lumber but does renew the very important Chapter 19 dispute resolution mechanism, the United Steelworkers issued strike notice to northern British Columbia sawmill operators, and the latest news on US home building and sales casts murky light on that important economic driver for the US economy. A forestry strike would impact Tolko operations in both Quesnel and Williams Lake,…

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A strike would impact Tolko operations in both Quesnel and Williams Lake, as well as the West Fraser planer operation in the Lake City, Dunkley Lumber and other operations in Prince George, Houston, Burns Lake, Fort St. James, Mackenzie and Fort St. John, according to My Cariboo Now Wednesday. The union representing roughly 2,000 forestry workers in Northern BC, including Quesnel and Williams Lake, has issued 72-hour strike notice. Brian O’Rourke, the President of the United Steelworkers Local 1-2017, said…

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