Forest2Market Monthly News



October Poll

Did any of the following events affect timber prices in your area this summer?
_________________________________________
Extreme weather
Trade policy changes and/or tariffs
End product demand
Prices remained steady in my region
Results From September's Poll

Housing starts have disappointed in recent months. What do you think is most affecting this metric?
How Much Money is an Acre of Timber Worth?

By Nathan Thomas
The first pieces of information landowners need when they decide to sell their timber are 1) an understanding of how much merchantable timber is growing on the stand they intend to harvest and 2) an understanding of the real market value of that timber. In the first installment of my two-part series on the data needed prior to a timber sale, I answered the most common question foresters hear on a regular basis: “How many tons of wood are there on an acre of land?” That blog post generated lots of attention and while it’s a topic of general interest, it’s really an indirect way of asking what everyone really wants to know: “How much money is an acre of timber worth?”

US South Timber Prices: 2Q2018 Performance & Outlook

By Gabe Rogers
US South timber prices during 2Q2018 were mixed; weighted average prices for pulpwood products slipped slightly, however, prices for pine log products increased.

Southern Yellow Pine Lumber Prices Steady in September

By John Greene
Southern yellow pine (SYP) lumber prices appear to have leveled out over the course of the last few weeks. Forest2Market’s composite southern yellow pine lumber price for week 38 was $436/MBF, a 0.5 percent decrease from the previous week’s price of $438/MBF, but a 10 percent increase from the same week in 2017.

North American Softwood Lumber Prices Compared to Historical Highs

By Keta Kosman
The North American softwood lumber market recently “settled down” from the wild swings of the past couple of months. Last week, supply was carefully assessed as field inventories were well-stocked, but demand remained steady and wood kept moving out the door.

Will the Independent Sawmill Industry in Finland Survive?

By Vasylysa Hänninen
A recent article by Kai Merivuori, Managing Director of the Finnish Sawmills Association (Sahateollisuus Oy), outlines a number of serious issues that independent sawmills are currently facing in Finland—existential issues that have caused some mills to stop buying logs. Given the strong global demand for sawn softwood, this situation has resulted in Finnish sawmills being disadvantaged in an increasingly competitive market.

Are High Timber Prices in Minas Gerais Surprising? Not for Forest2Market Customers in Brazil

By Marcelo Schmid
In August 2017, Forest2Market do Brasil initiated a detailed study in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Via this research, the company sought to better understand the regional forest market and the underlying causes behind the situation that many forest industry professionals had warned about for years: Minas Gerais had an oversupply of timber combined with a failed consumer market, and it was therefore an unattractive place to invest. What did we find?

US Housing Starts Surge in August; Existing Home Prices Increase

By John Greene
US housing starts increased more than expected to a three-month high in August, driven largely by a surge in multi-family homebuilding. However, building permits surprisingly experienced their largest drop since February 2017, suggesting that homebuilding is having difficulty stabilizing in 2018.

US Forest Industry Performance: August 2018

By Joe Clark
Total industrial production (IP) edged up by 0.1 percent in July (+4.2 percent YoY, the strongest gain in more than six years) as rising manufacturing output (+0.3 percent) offset declines from mining (-0.3 percent) and utilities (-0.5 percent). This is down from gains averaging 0.5 percent over the previous five months.

Western North America Wildfires Continue to Impact Forest Industry

By Keta Kosman
The worst possible bad news has been realized in western North America: wildfires across the region this year are as bad, or worse, than 2017. The wildfire experts have been proven correct over the last couple of years when they warned that epic forest fires would become the “new normal.” Wildfire ecologists in British Columbia (BC) have been warning that the government must invest in more targeted plans to mitigate the fuel load currently helping make these fires worse, and the forest industry must adapt their timber management practices, to expect these kinds of raging wildfires every year.