Lumber trading in North America slowed this week, as expected for the season, writes Keta Kosman in Madison’s Lumber reporter.
https://madisonsreport.com/.
Follow-through from previous weeks and a steady flow of fill-in orders kept prices firm on most commodities. The fear of wildfire danger in the Pacific Northwest was reduced over the weekend as rains hit British Columbia and Washington State.
Log supply at most mills continues stable as the BC Ministry of Forests is allowing heavy equipment into the back country for night-time activity. Sawmill order files remained out to mid-September or longer, providing confidence to producers that timber harvesting will continue through Labour Day.
Producers and customers of panel products battled it out as prices waffled all over the board this week. Settling on an acceptable range proved difficult, with buyers winning out slightly, as Oriented Strand Board (OSB) in the east lost $10 after a few weeks of steady or rising prices, while in the west OSB tanked $15 after surging $25 last week.
Benchmark OSB 7/16" Ontario fell to C$250 msf, while Canadian Softwood Plywood 9.5 mm in Toronto gained $11 to finish the week at C$398 msf. Sales volumes remained steady as traders contemplated the upcoming storm season in the southeastern US.
Clearly, supply and demand are coming into better balance as wholesalers and end-users are losing their terror of overstocking on wood then getting mashed with high replacement costs in the future. The fear that lumber and panel commodities could experience serious drops in value seems to be evaporating now that the difficult lessons of the epic US home building downturn are behind us.
Benchmark WSPF KD 2x4 #2&Btr dimension lumber picked up a respectable $4 to end the week at US$328 mfbm. Traders told Madison's Lumber Reporter that orders from the US remained steady while Asian customers, particularly in China, have continued to show interest in buying building materials.
An uncooperative lumber futures board, the bane of veteran traders and analysts alike for the past several years, screeched to a halt Friday morning when the latest US housing starts data was released. Players watched in amazement as Open Interest and Volumes dropped like a rock for almost all of Friday.
North American forest companies reporting quarterly results this week include
Conifex Timber Inc. (
TSX: V.CFF,
Stock Forum) and
Ainsworth Lumber Co. Ltd. (
TSX: T.ANS,
Stock Forum), both out of Vancouver, BC, and
Eacom Timber Corp. (
TSX: V.ETR,
Stock Forum), based in Montreal, QC. Conifex Wednesday reported a net income of $2.4 million for 2Q 2013 compared to a net loss of $2.4 million for 2Q 2012.
Panel maker Ainsworth reported sales were $127.5 million in 2Q 2013, representing a $37 million increase over the second quarter of 2012, due to a 45.9 per cent increase in realized pricing that was partially offset by a 3.4 per cent decrease in sales volumes. For the quarter ended June 30, 2013, EACOM recorded sales of $88.3 million, up 35 per cent against sales of $65.3 million in the corresponding quarter of 2012.
Follow us on Twitter!
https://twitter.com/LumberNews
Keta Kosman
Publisher
Madison's Lumber Reporter
604 984-6838
www.madisonsreport.com