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US Building Materials Prices Flat as Gypsum, Lumber Slow Overall Growth
Prices paid for goods used in residential construction did not change in May (not seasonally adjusted) according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a result, building materials prices have grown much more slowly in 2019 (+3.1%) than they did over the same period in 2018, during which…
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Softwood Lumber Supply-and-Demand Corrects On Further Sawmill Curtailments
The latest announcement of major sawmill curtailments Monday, this time with Canfor making production cuts at all its facilities, caused a complete reversal of lumber futures prices on the Chicago Merchantile Exchange. It will be very interesting to see what happens with cash prices this week. Madison’s Lumber Reporter print is Friday mornings; this week…
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North America Softwood Lumber Production, Sawmill Capacity Utilization, WWPA: March 2019
The latest issue of the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track, for January-March 2019, shows a +0.4% increase in US softwood lumber production volume, to 8,634 mmfbm. January – March softwood lumber production in Canada continued dropping by -8.6%, to 6,382 mmfbm, compared to the first three months of 2018 when it was 6,985…
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US FHFA House Price Index History vs Softwood Lumber Prices: 2007 – March 2019
The US Home Price Index, released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of +1.3% in March, following the +5.3% increase in February. On a year-over-year basis, the FHFA Home Price NSA Index rose by +5% in March. It was the lowest annual growth rate since January 2015, confirming the…
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Softwood Lumber Prices Slide Downward as More Sawmill Closures are Announced
Confusion reigned only more last week in the North America construction framing dimension softwood lumber market as demand was very soft for what is normally the big home building season in the US. This week major producers announced further permanent closures and curtailments for British Columbia sawmills; due both to high log costs while lumber…
