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Lumber Prices Flatten as Demand Remains Weak
Ongoing harsh winter weather and ample supply of lumber inventories in the field served to keep prices stable. It seemed that only the sawmill downtime and curtailment announcements of recent weeks — and months — kept lumber prices from falling lower. The balancing act of keeping manufacturing volumes in line with demand was made even…
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US Housing Market January and Softwood Lumber Prices February: 2023
US housing starts and new home sales data has been released for January 2023, with the latest numbers showing an ongoing momentum of activity. In 2022 the US began building 1.55 million homes, just a -3% drop from full-year 2021. Single-family starts in 2022 totalled 1.01 million, down -10.6% from the previous year. Total housing…
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Random Length Lumber Futures Trading *repost*
Chicago Mercantile Exchange launched updated futures trading in August 2022 under the ticker LBR CME Group launched a new lumber futures contract on August 8, 2022. The new derivative is said to feature a more precise hedging acumen and is designed to be more accessible to producers. The new futures are now sized at 27,500…
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Reduced Manufacturing Volumes Push Lumber Prices Up
Despite somewhat soft demand, as many customers weren’t sure where prices were going so waited to buy, lumber prices popped up again in mid-February. This due mostly to ongoing capacity restrictions, especially in the important timber supply basket of British Columbia. As the spring building season fast approaches, end-users will not be able to wait…
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Lumber Prices and Market Update: Feb 2023
In the week ending February 10, 2023, the price of benchmark softwood lumber item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir 2×4 #2&Btr KD (RL) was US$476 mfbm, which is up by +$16 or +3%, from the previous week when it was US$360 mfbm, said weekly forest products industry price guide newsletter Madison’s Lumber Reporter. This is up by +$104,…
