North American lumber and panel traders reported a strong sense of pent-up demand throughout the market, even as demand waned this week and sales volumes were muted, writes Keta Kosman in Madison’s Lumber Reporter
https://madisonsreport.com.
Players at sawmills and secondary distributors across the continent rated this week’s business as "five out of ten". Continued terrible weather in important solid wood consumer centres was blamed for the stall in pre-spring buying.
Canadian producers of Western Spruce-Pine-Fir lumber enjoyed steady enough ordering from offshore customers, particularly from China, that they were able to keep prices on most commodities relatively flat. Many of these market participants had evacuated their offices for the Montreal Wood Convention, in Montreal, QC, for most of this week anyway.
Still on the west coast, prices of green Douglas fir sank further this week over last week’s losses before finding a bottom and bouncing hard. News that the largest manufacturer of green Doug-fir, in Oregon, was off the market on 12-inch dimension lumber prompted immediate price gains on all sizes. 2x10 prices were apparently "poised to explode" as soon as the weather clears.
As if in confirmation of the above information gathered from operators on the ground in Washington State, Oregon, and British Columbia, the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station mid-Friday released 2013 log and lumber export data.
US PNW 2013 log & lumber exports increased by 20 per cent in volume compared to 2012, while the total value was up 37 per cent for log and 23 per cent for lumber exports, respectively. Total US lumber export volume in 2013 up 12 per cent compared to 2012, while lumber export value was up 18 per cent. West coast lumber exports accounted for 31 per cent of total US export volumes.
In company news this week,
Resolute Forest Products Inc. (
TSX: T.RFP,
Stock Forum), out of Montreal, QC, Monday announced a five-year renewal of the master collective agreement covering four unionized US pulp and paper mills. Unionized employees voted overwhelmingly to ratify the agreement at mills in Augusta, GA; Calhoun, TN; Catawba, SC; and Coosa Pines, AL, effective as of February 14, 2014.
As well,
Domtar Corp. (
TSX: T.UFS,
Stock Forum), also based in Montreal, announced Thursday that its Board of Directors has approved its fourth quarterly dividend for the 2013 fiscal year on its common stock and on Domtar (Canada) Paper Inc. exchangeable shares.
The dividend of US$0.55 per share is payable on April 15, 2014 to stockholders of record on March 14, 2014.
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Keta Kosman
Publisher
Madison's Lumber Reporter
604 984-6838
www.madisonsreport.com