Forest2Market Monthly News


October Poll

Based on wet weather patterns during 2019, have you changed your inventory plans for the upcoming fall and winter seasons?

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Yes
No
Results From September's Poll

What is the primary cause of disappointing housing starts so far in 2019?

What’s Driving Delivered Prices Higher in the Northeast?

By Joel Swanton
Several factors have combined in the US Northeast over the last decade to negatively impact the region’s forest products industry. Most importantly, demand for one of the region’s pivotal products—printing and writing papers manufactured from hardwood and softwood pulp—continues to decline rapidly; production of printing and writing papers has declined by 6% annually since 2009.

Brazil’s Pine Export Market Braces for (Negative) Impact

By Marcelo Schmid
Forest management is a long-term activity and investment; it takes years of patience to reap the rewards of the effort that is sown both monetarily and materially. The market for forest products, on the other hand, operates in a completely different dynamic, as the variables that drive these markets can develop very quickly and are oftentimes volatile. Global demand for wood-based products can fluctuate wildly even from season to season.

August Housing Starts Soar to 12-Year High

By John Greene
The beginnings of a late-season rally took shape in August as US housing starts jumped 12 percent to their highest level since June 2007. While the fresh data is skewed towards multi-family housing, this is the monthly jumpstart the market has been eagerly pining for since the beginning of the year, but can it last?

Housing Market Guidance: Will 2019 Meet Expectations?

By Forest2Market
July’s 12.8 percent plunge in new home sales is a function of the ridiculously large revision to June’s sales (from a preliminary SAAR of 646,000 units to a 12-year high of 728,000); had June’s estimate not been revised, July’s retreat would have been a relatively mundane -1.7 percent. The Census Bureau made sweeping revisions to construction spending (spanning back to January 2013 in the not-seasonally adjusted series), in the process adding $72.5 billion to total spending but subtracting $1.5 billion from the private residential component.

Five (and a half) Factors That Impact Timber Prices

By John Greene
Regardless of location, wood feedstock costs are the single largest variable costs of wood-consuming manufacturing projects. As such, it is imperative to have a firm understanding of timber prices (stumpage) in a supply region not only during a site selection process, but also as an ongoing operating cost within that supply region.

North American Softwood Lumber Prices Steady Despite Market Uncertainty

By Keta Kosman
North American lumber prices bounced on the heels of the Labor Day weekend. But how long will it last? Madison’s Lumber Reporter has been following the ups-and-downs of North America construction framing softwood dimension lumber prices in 2019, which remain baffling.

Western Communities Lose as Environmental Groups Reap Millions in EAJA Payouts

By Nick Smith
The U.S. Forest Service released its budget justification for Fiscal Year 2020 and it includes a lot of information about the agency and its finances. Buried in this voluminous document are details about settlement awards and attorney’s fees related to the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), Endangered Species Act (ESA) and amounts paid in settlement for all litigation against the agency.

US Forest Industry Performance: August 2019

By Joe Clark
Total industrial production (IP) declined 0.2 percent in July (+0.5 percent YoY). Manufacturing output decreased 0.4 percent (-0.5 percent YoY) and has fallen more than 1.5 percent since December 2018. In July, mining output fell 1.8 percent, as Hurricane Barry caused a sharp but temporary decline in oil extraction in the Gulf of Mexico. The index for utilities rose 3.1 percent, however.

Why Record Log Exports from the Asian South are Under Pressure

By Tim Woods
Combined exports of softwood logs from New Zealand and Australia totaled 26.4 million cubic meters (m 3) in the 2018-19 financial year. Total exports from the two countries lifted 9.5% compared to the prior year, in line with the 10.5% per annum increases recorded over the decade since 2009.

Forest2Market Joins Industry Advocates at FRA Event in Washington

By Mike Powell
The week of September 16, I traveled to Washington DC with Forest2Market’s CEO Pete Stewart where we joined over 95 fellow advocates for working forests to participate in the Forest Resources Association’s (FRA) Fall Board Meeting and Fly-In. The three-day event included committee and board meetings, networking receptions, guest speakers and—perhaps most importantly—FRA’s “Fly-In.”