A huge disruption to transportation for most of November from the critical lumber producing basket of the British Columbia interior, euphemistically referred to as “sawmill country”, caused a supply crunch for wood products which the market is currently still working out. Of all construction framing lumber in the US at any time, approximately 14% comes from BC, so such a big drop so suddenly is having a great impact on lumber prices.
Meanwhile, US home construction activity is very strong for this time of year. Total housing starts in the US for November 2021 soared by almost +12% from October, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.679 million units. This is an +8.3% improvement from the same month one year ago, when it was 1.551 million.
Since players had not been stocking lumber inventory in hopes that prices would go down, they were caught short toward the end of they year so needed to buy at volumes when normally construction activity is very low.
Madison’s Lumber Reporter’s next website update of North America construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices will be Jan 18, 2022. We wish everyone a great Holiday Season!
For the week ending December 17, 2021 the price of benchmark lumber item Western S-P-F 2x4 #2&Btr KD (RL) skyrocketed, up by a mind-boggling +$200 or +27% to US$950 mfbm, from $750 the previous week, said lumber industry price guide newsletter Madison’s Lumber Reporter. That week’s price is up by +$321, or +51%, from one month ago when it was $629.
FULL STORY: https://madisonsreport.com/2021/12/21/softwood-lumber-prices-surge-year-end-2021/
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