North American lumber and panel traders wiped the turkey drippings off their chins and holiday cheer off their brows this week, returning to their desks to find no slowdown in ordering, writes Keta Kosman in Madison's Lumber Reporter
https://madisonsreport.com.
While this was a somewhat surprising turn of events, it is of particular interest to note that most of the buying came from US customers. Even the epic cold blasts repeatedly slamming densely populated areas of the US and Canada were not enough to stem the tide of demand for solid wood products.
Transportation on rail lines was brutal, naturally. Players were unfazed by this seasonal reality, as they know their volumes will eventually reach destinations.
Order files at most sawmills were respectable as the now-entrenched habit of just-in-time buying continued to stymie customer hopes that prices would soften. Traders continually booked small orders to fill immediate needs as customers realized their extremely lean inventories at the close of 2013 would not be enough to carry them through even a few days' use.
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Even as ordering of most dimension lumber products this week came from US customers, studs mills reported good sales volumes offshore, particularly to China. Indeed, sales of studs into the US continued strong this week as well but the combined demand was not enough to prop up prices on that commodity.
Benchmark stud item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2x4 PET prices remained flat compared to the end of last year, at US$305 mfbm. This is a $35, or 10.3 per cent, drop compared to the same time last year when that item sold for US$340 mfbm. At that time studs prices were still experiencing significant volatility due to the loss of production at Sinclar's Lakeland stud mill in Prince George, BC, the previous spring.
Sentiment among key players was that -- if not for this extremely severe weather -- sales volumes would have been much higher this week. Lumber producers and wholesalers are eagerly anticipating a hot spring lumber sales season this year.
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Keta Kosman
Publisher
Madison's Lumber Reporter
604 984-6838
www.madisonsreport.com