Forest2Market Monthly News: Part II
How Have Recent Gulf Coast Hurricanes Affected Stumpage Price?

By Javon Carter
Hurricane Harvey swept through Texas as a category 4 hurricane on Friday, August 25, 2017 and bombarded the city of Houston with more than 50 inches of rainfall. Dozens of inches of rain poured on Port Arthur and Beaumont over the following days as the storm churned towards East Texas and Louisiana. Due to the shutdown of oil refineries and chemical plants, damaged roads and ports, and widespread damage to homes, businesses and cars, the economic toll from Hurricane Harvey is estimated to be between $80 to $200 billion. Potentially making this storm the 2 nd costliest natural disaster in US history behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Improve Your Forecasting with Actionable Business Intelligence

By Pete Coutu
Forecasting prices with accuracy is as much of an art as it is a science. The art requires that one determine the likelihood certain events will occur over a forecast period, identifying both the direction and degree of those changes. The science requires that the forecast be initiated by using the most accurate and precise historical data from which to project forward, and Forest2Market has the only transaction-based data available to the forest industry, which includes 300 million+ historical data points and a wealth of industry knowledge.

Douglas Fir and Hem-Fir Log Diameter Trends in the Pacific Northwest

By Jay Engle
“In days of old, logs were sold based on bigger is better. In the days of now, we sell them anyhow regardless of diameter.” The poetry is simple, but it does allude to the fact that as old-growth forests were harvested and as processing equipment evolved and improved, smaller size sawlogs became useable and therefore more common. This trend began in the eastern US and gradually moved west.

Recent Precipitation Impacts on Pine Pulpwood Prices in the US South

By Jay Engle
No single factor impacts stumpage prices more than precipitation. Despite the catastrophic effects of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, most of the US South has already experienced a wetter-than-average summer season as illustrated in the map below, which makes the added rainfall and flooding from these storms even more devastating on many levels. As we noted in an in-depth analysis of South Carolina’s abnormally high precipitation due to hurricane Joaquin in October 2015, such events create a slew of challenges for facilities that rely upon wood raw materials.

US Postpones Decision on Canadian Softwood Lumber Duties

By John Greene
The US Department of Commerce has announced that it will postpone the final decision regarding the anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber until November, which has given Canadian producers a temporary reprieve. The decision had previously been expected in early September after a June announcement of the additional anti-dumping duties, which brought the total duties on Canadian softwood lumber to between 17.41 percent and 30.88 percent.
 
Forests and Urban Development: Land Use Change in the US and US South

By Hannah Jefferies
Working forests play an important role in keeping forested land forested, as our previous analyses have demonstrated. Working forests store carbon, provide recreational opportunities and support the economic vitality of many rural communities. However, working forests face competing land use pressures that place them at risk of conversion to other uses.