By Madison's Lumber Reporter
After some big drops last month, the price of
most North American construction framing
dimension softwood lumber commodities fell
further last week, but by smaller amounts. The
supply-demand balance seems to be correcting,
due to ongoing strong customers appetite even as
the usual autumn slow-down for building activity
is upon us.
Sawmill order files have been reduced to mere
days, which is normal for this time of year. As
prices were plummeting in recent weeks customers
delayed purchases in the hopes that supplier
quotes would fall further; however, many could
not delay ordering much-needed wood. This
provided sellers the opportunity to keep prices
somewhat aloft. A two-tier market has formed, as
secondary suppliers (wholesalers, reloads)
offered wood at much lower prices than lumber
manufacturers did. Log supply remains good at
most lumber manufacturing facilities. However,
there are rumblings that in the British Columbia
north some sawmills are having trouble getting
logs into their yards.
“An extreme two-tiered market
blossomed in sheet goods while prices of
dimension lumber items tumbled further.” —
Madison’s Lumber Reporter
![](Lumber_madison_weekly_20201111a.JPG)
Producers of Western S-P-F commodities in the U.S. were under more
pressure last week to adjust their asking prices to tradable levels.
Order files at sawmills marched closer to prompt and a large contingent
of buyers impressively continued to sit on their hands even as their
inventories ran down to pavement. Sawmills remained aggressively in
search of orders and increasingly amenable to deep counter offers to
keep their wood moving to buyers. Still, sales volumes were low.
While Western S-P-F sawmills in Canada maintained a tenuous two-week
order file on bread and butter #2&Btr items, availability of short stock
and other accumulated widths and grades started to pop up all over. As
prices continued to pull back – between $20 and $80 in standard and high
grade – sawmills were able to get some sales traction. Despite the
overall endemic lack of wood in downstream inventories, sawmills had to
fervently seek business all week and accept deeper counters than they
may have anticipated.
![](Lumber_madison_weekly_20201111b.JPG)
For the week ending Oct. 30, 2020 the price of benchmark softwood
lumber commodity item Western S-P-F KD 2×4 #2&Btr corrected down, by
-$40, or -6%, to U.S. $660 mfbm. This week’s price is -$300, or -31%,
less than it was one month ago. Closing the massive gap of earlier this
year, compared to one year ago, this price is up +$264, or +67%.
“Eastern S-P-F sawmills in Canada ended last week by
taking deep counter-offers to sell off much of their accumulated wood.
According to many accounts, availability of some items was drying up
even at the secondary supplier level, forcing some customers into
scramble-mode when trying to fill specific holes in their
perpetually-depleted inventories.” — Madison’s Lumber Reporter
![](Lumber_madison_weekly_20201111c.JPG)
Compared to the one-year rolling average price of U.S. $527 mfbm,
last week Western S-P-F KD 2×4 #2&Btr was selling for +$133, or +25%
more, and was up +$215, or +48%, compared to the two-year rolling
average price of U.S. $445 mfbm.
The below table is a comparison of recent highs, in June 2018, and
current Oct. 2020 benchmark dimension Softwood Lumber 2×4 prices
compared to historical highs of 2004/05 and compared to recent lows of
Sept. 2015:
![](Lumber_madison_weekly_20201111d.JPG)
Related News:
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
43 2020 (Nov
4,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
42 2020 (Oct
28,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
41 2020 (Oct
21,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
40 2020 (Oct
14,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
39, 2020 (Oct
07,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
38, 2020 (Sep
30,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
37, 2020 (Sep
23,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
36, 2020 (Sep
16,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
35, 2020 (Sep
09,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
34, 2020 (Sep
02,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
33, 2020 (Aug
26,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
32, 2020 (Aug
19,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
31, 2020 (Aug
12,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week
30, 2020 (Aug
05,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week 29, 2020 (Jul
29,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week 28, 2020 (Jul
22,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week 27, 2020 (Jul
17,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week 26, 2020 (Jul
10,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week 25, 2020 (Jul
02,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week 24, 2020 (Jun
25,
2020)
-
U.S. & Canada softwood and panel markets - week 23, 2020 (Jun
17,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 22, 2020 (Jun
10,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 21, 2020 (Jun
3,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 20, 2020 (May 27,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 19, 2020 (May 21,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 18, 2020 (May 15,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 17, 2020 (May 8,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 16, 2020 (May 1,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 15, 2020 (Apr
23,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 14, 2020 (Apr
17,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 13, 2020 (Apr
08,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 12, 2020 (Mar
31,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 11, 2020 (Mar
24,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 5, 2020 (Feb
11,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 4, 2020 (Feb
4,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 3, 2020 (January
27,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 2, 2020 (January
20,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 1, 2020 (January
13,
2020)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 50, 2019 (December
17,
2019)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 49, 2019 (December
10,
2019)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 48, 2019 (December
3,
2019)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 47, 2019 (November
26,
2019)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 46, 2019 (November
19,
2019)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 45, 2019 (November
12,
2019)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 44, 2019 (November
5,
2019)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 43, 2019 ( October
29,
2019)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 42, 2019 ( October
22,
2019)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 41, 2019 ( October
15,
2019)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 40, 2019 ( October
8,
2019)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 39, 2019 ( October
1,
2019)
-
U.S. &
Canada softwood and panel markets - week 38, 2019 ( September 24,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 37, 2019 ( September 17,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 36, 2019 ( September 10,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 35, 2019 ( September 3,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 34, 2019 ( August 23,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 33, 2019 ( August 16,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 32, 2019 ( August 09,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 31, 2019 ( August 02,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 30, 2019 ( July
26, 2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 29, 2019 ( July 19,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 28, 2019 ( July 12,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 27, 2019 ( July 03,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 26, 2019 ( June 28,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 25, 2019 ( June 21,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 24, 2019 ( June 14,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 23, 2019 ( June 07,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 22, 2019 ( May 31,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 21, 2019 ( May 24,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 20, 2019 ( May 17,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 19, 2019 ( May 10,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 18, 2019 ( May 03,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 17, 2019 ( April 26,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 16, 2019 ( April 19,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 15, 2019 ( April 12,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 14, 2019 ( April 05,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 13, 2019 ( March
29, 2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 12, 2019 ( March
22, 2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 11, 2019 ( March
15, 2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 10, 2019 ( March
08, 2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 9, 2019 ( March
01, 2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 8, 2019 ( February.
22, 2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 7, 2019 ( February.
15, 2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 6, 2019 ( February.
08, 2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 5, 2019 ( February.
01, 2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 4, 2019 (January. 25,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 3, 2019 (January. 18,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 2, 2019 (January. 11,
2019)
-
U.S. softwood and panel markets - week 1, 2019 (January. 04,
2019)
|