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Weekly Softwood Lumber Blog

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Softwood Lumber Prices Come Up Off Seasonal Lows

January 2023 is well under way, and with it the usual seasonal large-volume buying by the big US home builders has begun. Because they want the wood needed for their projects on the ground before spring building activity, customers make their orders now to accommodate possibly extended delivery times. As such, it is usual for […]

Madison’s at NAHB International Builders’ Show 2023

Check out Madison’s Lumber Reporter speaking at the fabulous National Association of Home Builders annual event in Las Vegas next week: Jan 31 – Feb 2 I’m coming for you #IBS2023! Madison’s Lumber Reporter is so excited to be speaking at the @intlbuildersshow Jan 31. I will be sharing tips and advice about the softwood lumber […]

Some Lumber Specialty Item Prices Increase

As January 2023 got going, while hardly a big rush, there was an increase in sales — and therefore prices — of several specialty lumber items. Even benchmark WSPF 2x4s popped up a little bit, although more due to significant supply being taken offline than growing demand. There were inklings, however, that customers are making […]

Sales of Lumber Continue Slow in New Year

As a fresh, brand new year of 2023 got started, lumber sales continued with the slow momentum which ended last year. This is normal for the season, particularly given some very harsh winter weather across the continent. Winter is not usually a good time for home building and construction. Several large-volume operators, especially in British […]

Year-End 2022 Lumber Prices Remain Flat

Madison’s would like to thank our excellent contacts for another great year of bringing the most accurate, up-to-date lumber market commentary and pricing data to our astute readers. We will be back January 5, 2023. In the meantime, we wish you all a safe and happy holiday season! This year ended with lumber prices wavering around […]

Lumber Demand Drops as Year-End Looms

A combination of the normal seasonal slowdown in demand, due to construction activity reducing during winter, and plenty of supply throughout the marketplace brought steady-to-lower lumber prices. As the holiday season quickly approached, producers across the continent took extended downtime. This not only for the usual seasonal curtailments and maintenance, but also in response to […]

True Winter Weather Brings Lower Lumber Prices

As December dawned winter weather came on across North America, causing the usual drop in construction activity thus lumber sales. Price levels dropped accordingly, but only for benchmark items. Sellers were able to keep prices level on many dimension lumber and panel items. However, the obvious slowing demand into the end of the year suggested […]

Madison’s Sawmill Curtailment Lookout: Nov 2022

Have you signed up for a subscription to the FABULOUS *new* Madison’s Sawmill Curtailment Lookout? The December issue will be going out soon …. Don’t miss out! Your colleagues already have access to this vital and important timely information. With Madison’s Sawmill Lookout you will save time and money by ensuring your outreach is timely […]

US Thanksgiving Brings Soft Lumber Demand

As is historically usual for this season, demand — and therefore prices — of most softwood lumber items dropped during the US Thanksgiving holiday week. This time of year is normally marked by slowing construction activity thus lower demand for dimension lumber. Of course, the past two years have not been normal. As forest industry […]

US Home Sales Oct, Lumber Prices Nov: 2022

Bumping up and down in recent months, sales of new US single-family homes actually increased in October. There were 632,000 new single-family homes sold last month, which is up +7.5% from the downwardly revised September rate of 588,000 and is a -5.8% drop compared to October 2021 when it was 671,000. Only 15,000 new homes […]