Lumber prices in North America rose to $666
North American softwood lumber manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, buyers, and end-users all agree that the current supply and demand situation and the resulting dramatic price increases week after week, the future of lumber prices is unknown for all!
Sawmills in Canada and the United States are either operating at full capacity or trying to increase production following the implementation of new social distance rules related to COVID-19 restrictions. Meanwhile, us housing - construction, sales, and prices - is heating up. At this time of year, home builders and contractors have ordered and received the wood they need, and the project cycle runs through September.
Lumber trader regrets, nobody knows what happened in the end, besides the constant demand! The supplier did not have enough wood on hand to meet the demand. The production orders of sawmills, whether in the west, east, or south, have been scheduled to September in most factories, and even in some factories, the production orders have been scheduled to October. Now, customers looking for wood wait until even mid-September to be notified by sawmills that they can arrange production, and then wait even longer for delivery.
Buyers of Western S-P-F in the US are used to looking up to rising lumber prices as softwood lumber prices rise again to record highs above previous ones. Traders said demand remained strong in the face of these unprecedented price levels. The sawmill order file for most products continued into September, and as trains arrived later and later, the delivery time for the lumber was extended by several weeks.
There is an almost frenzied urgency in the market as customers flock to whatever scraps of wood they can find, no matter what species they are. Lumber stocks of all sizes are almost non-existent because lumber is sold so quickly that lumber dealers simply cannot build stocks.
Last week, the price of SPF timber in the west continued to surge, with 2 # & BTR 2 * 4 up to $46 at $666. Both standard grades and high line sizes have risen by double digits, as sawmills have again offered high prices and have yet to find resistance from buyers. After a pause in Canadian demand a week ago, demand has picked up so quickly that every day the big producers are running out of wood they can supply, leaving secondary suppliers unable to build up any inventory. Most sawmills are now booked until September.
The price of softwood lumber for standard building frame sizes rose sharply in the week ending August 7, 2020. The benchmark Western softwood lumber price S-P-F 2×4 #2& BTR KD rose $46, or 7 percent, to 666 MFBM from $620 the previous week. The timber commodity is up to $162, or 32%, from a month ago. In the same week in 2019, the product was priced at $340, compared with a 96 percent increase of $326.
The above table compares the benchmark size cork 2 x 4 prices in June 2018 and August 2020 with the historical high in 2004/05 and the recent low in September 2015.
