Forest2Market Monthly News
PiiMega Adds Forest2Market Data Export Module to PiiMega® ForestPro and TimberPro

By Forest2Market
Independent sawmills using both Forest2Market’s delivered wood price benchmark service and PiiMega’s logistics and harvesting management (ForestPro) or sawmill operations ERP (TimberPro) software can now use the Forest2Market data export module to submit data directly to the Baltic Rim Benchmark service.
US South Timber Prices by Region: November/December 2016

By Joe Clark
There was little movement in stumpage / timber prices during November/December. There were both price increases and drops, but none of these changes were significant. On a Southwide basis, pine chip-n-saw and hardwood sawtimber increased in price (less than 1 percent) during November/December. Pine sawtimber, pine pulpwood and hardwood pulpwood dropped modestly in price during the two-month period.
Residues Becoming a Problem for Northeastern Mills

By Eric Kingsley
If you can’t move chips, you can’t make lumber. Sometimes we forget that when a sawmill buys logs (cylinders) and sells lumber (rectangles), everything that didn’t become a board has to go somewhere. While mills have spent significantly on technology to reduce residues, there simply isn’t a way to stop sawmills from turning out chips, sawdust and bark.

Continue Reading...
Latvia’s Vibrant Forest Industry Part I: Timber Supply & Investment

By John Greene
Last month, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service published a detailed report through its Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) on the forestry sector and forest products industry in Latvia. As a country with vast acres of dense timberland and a vibrant forest products industry, forestry is a major contributor to the country’s export economy; in 2015 alone, Latvia exported over $2 billion worth of forest industry products. As Scandinavian and Baltic countries continue to competitively access more foreign markets, Latvia’s forest products industry is positioned for growth.

Continue Reading...
Latvia’s Vibrant Forest Industry Part II: Imports & Exports

By John Greene
Last month, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service published a detailed report through its Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) on the forestry sector and forest products industry in Latvia. As a country with vast acres of dense timberland and a vibrant forest products industry, forestry is a major contributor to the country’s export economy; in 2015 alone, Latvia exported over $2 billion worth of forest industry products. As Scandinavian and Baltic countries continue to competitively access more foreign markets, Latvia’s forest products industry is positioned for growth.

Continue Reading...
Southern Yellow Pine Lumber Prices Dip in January ‘17

By John Greene
The composite southern yellow pine lumber price continued to inch downward during the first month of 2017; week 4’s price dipped to the $370/mbf mark. As noted in the chart below, January prices have either been flat or decreased during three of the last five years before inventory building typically begins and prices rise in the early spring.

Continue Reading...
Rising Fiber Costs Threaten Russian Pulp & Paper Industry

By Vasylysa Hänninen
The Russian Pulp & Paper (P&P) sector is export-oriented, and Russian producers compete with other long-fiber pulp and paper product producers in global markets. Due to the recent depreciation of the local currency (ruble), Russian producers have a reprieve; among the lowest cost producers in the world, they are currently enjoying high margins. This situation is temporary, however. As the ruble strengthens, fiber prices will increase and when this happens, knowledge of real-world market wood fiber costs will be crucial for Russian P&P products to retain a competitive edge on the global market. As a hedge, producers will need to know their domestic and international markets. Forest2Market’s Baltic Rim benchmark provides this data, helping producers identify where their current wood fiber costs are in comparison to their local and global competitors and, most importantly, where they have room for improvement and increased profitability.

Continue Reading...
2016 Housing Starts: Strongest Year since 2007 but Challenges Remain

By John Greene
Following a drop in activity in November, US housing starts increased sharply in December helping the index to hit its highest level in nine years. An estimated 1.17 million housing units were started in 2016—a nearly 5 percent increase over 2015—making it the strongest year since 2007. However, there was a continued divergence in the types of residential buildings under construction; single-family starts were up 9.3 percent last year, but multifamily units fell 3.1 percent. A similar pattern was seen in permits data.

Continue Reading...
Forest Industry Performance: December 2016
By Joe Clark
Total industrial production (IP) declined 0.4 percent in November (-0.6 percent YoY) after edging up 0.1 percent in October (Table 3). Manufacturing output (NAICS basis) was unchanged (+0.4 percent YoY). Meanwhile, new orders decreased 2.4 percent (but +1.2 percent YoY). Business investment spending was also mixed: rising by 0.9 percent MoM, but -1.5 percent YoY. Business spending has contracted on a YoY basis during all but two months since January 2015.

Continue Reading...
Greenpeace Tactics Backfire despite "Surreal" Media Environment

By John Greene
We have heard a lot about “fake news” and “alternate facts” in recent months. The sense of relativism that is driving the ideological schism in the Western world has reached such a level that one must question whether media objectivity actually exists anymore. To point, Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2016 was “surreal,” defined as being “marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream.” And Oxford Dictionaries declared “post-truth” as its word of the year, defined as “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”

Continue Reading...
Copyright Reminder  
 
Forest2Market, Inc. is the owner of the report contained in this computer file. U.S. copyright laws and international copyright agreements protect this report.

When you print, copy or save this report, please remember: 
  • All Forest2Market publications, including price guides and market reports, are the property of Forest2Market and contain copyrighted material and proprietary information.  
  • Copying or re-transmission of this report or any part of this report, except as is allowed by law, is prohibited.     
  • You may not re-transmit or send this report or any portion of this report to any other location within or outside of your company, school or organization without prior written permission from Forest2Market.