Browsing Category

Weekly Softwood Lumber Blog

76 posts

Madison’s Lumber Prices Update – Sneak Peak

An early view of what Madison’s Lumber Reporter subscribers will see tonight when the 500 individual softwood lumber and panel commodity prices are updated in our dashboard: This small bump up in benchmark Western S-P-F KD 2×4 and 2×6 #2&Btr during a time of year when construction and building is usually slowing down — thus […]

Good Construction Weather Props Up Lumber Prices Slightly

Into the latter weeks of October, mild weather in many of the densely-populated areas of the US provided the opportunity for an increase in construction activity. As such, demand for dimension lumber and other solid wood building materials brought a bump up in lumber prices, due to limited supply in the field. Sawmills and wholesalers […]

US Housing Market Sept & Softwood Lumber Prices Oct: 2022

After a strong showing in the first half of this year, US housing starts and US new home sales for September 2022 dropped, reversing a small recovery seen in August. While it is true that a slow-down is apparent in both construction and home buying activity, it is important to note that new building activity […]

The Autumn Slowdown Brings Dropping Lumber Prices

The normal seasonal slowdown for construction and building activity in autumn brings a drop in lumber prices. However it is unknown how much impact rebuilding after the recent very severe storms along the east coast of North America, both on the Canadian Atlantic provinces and for the US south, will have on looming lumber demand […]

Sawmill Curtailments Bring Flat Lumber Prices

Several benchmark North American construction framing dimension softwood lumber and panel prices remained flat in mid-September, despite a normal seasonal slow-down in buying. This is because a number of large operators announced curtailments and downtime in order to keep supply in line with waning demand. Dimension lumber sawmills and panel (plywood and oriented strand board) […]

Madison’s Lumber Reporter: Lumber Price Dashboard

Madison’s Lumber Reporter is your premiere source for North America home building construction framing softwood lumber news, prices, industry insight, and industry contacts. We have a variety of products to meet your information needs. Madison’s Lumber Reporter is your premiere source for North America home building construction framing softwood lumber news, prices, industry insight, and […]

Lumber Prices and Market Update: Sept 2022 (video)

Check back with the Madison’s website often for the latest updates for the latest developments and updates. In the week ending Sept 30, 2022, the price of WSPF 2×4 #2&Btr KD (RL) was US$505 mfbm, said forest products industry price guide newsletter Madison’s Lumber Reporter. This is down by-$15, or -3%, from the previous week […]

US Housing Market August & Softwood Lumber Prices Sept: 2022

US housing starts and US new home sales for August 2022 sharply reversed the downward trend seen in the past few months since mortgage and interest rate increases hit the housing market. While it is true that a slow-down is apparent in both construction and home buying activity, it is important to note that month-over-month […]

Madison’s BC Coast Log prices report: Aug 2022

North America Sawmill Capacity Utilization Rates: WWPA June 2022 US sawmill production as a per cent of practical capacity for January-June 2022 was down to 84%, compared to the first six months of last year when it was 87%, said the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track. Canada’s sawmill capacity utilization rate continued to […]

Lumber Prices Stay Level on Low-er Field Inventories

As inventories in the field tightened up, many benchmark softwood lumber prices stayed flat in mid-September. Supply at producers was quite lean, providing sawmills the opportunity to keep prices flat as they boosted order files out to two weeks — which is quite strong for the time of year. For their part, wholesalers and other […]