Activity and sales were lighter last week in the eastern spruce lumber market. With a lack of orders coming in, the mills aggressively adjusted prices to lure buyers. Many items dropped by triple digits by week’s end. With fewer orders in the books for the mills to ship, the backlog of late orders has diminished, but there is a fair amount from February not shipped. The lack of railcars is the main culprit. The eastern mills also still struggled to find truckers, limiting the areas where they could ship to. On a positive note, prices in the futures market rebounded on Friday.
11 Likes
What explains this aggressive behavior?
Are the price adjustments a response to taking counters from buyers and trying to determine a new trading level or is it more of mills trying to stimulate business out of the woodwork?
9 Likes
the mills looked to firm offers to sell what they wanted or adjusted to where they felt they could get business, generally much less than where they started
8 Likes