The lumber industry has faced no shortage of volatility. It transitioned from boom to bust in 2018 to 2019 and developed into a bigger boom to bust in 2020 to 2022. The latest Random Lengths Weekly pricing correction shows the Framing Lumber Composite Price (FLCP) plummet from 2022’s highs of over $1,334 per thousand board feet (mbf) to $373 per mbf in the first week of January. Prices have subsequently oscillated around $400 per mbf for most of 2023, a level market participants in a pre-pandemic environment would be more familiar with.
The price correction was triggered by a combination of demand falling off after peaking in the spring of 2021 and supply-side disruptions from the pandemic dissipating as mill headcounts normalized and transportation/logistics shortages ceased.
https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/sawmill-capacity-closures-reshape-us-lumber-supply