Throughout the West Coast region, sources that were contacted at the time of this writing agreed that while their markets are steady, they are still slower than they would like to be.
In California a lumberman said that his sales are order to order, with their market continuing at the same pace that it was at six months ago. “A lot of our customers don’t want to commit to anything right now, so they are buying what they need, when they need it.”
His company offers Red and White Oak, Walnut and Hickory in thicknesses of 4/4-8/4 and grades FAS and Nos. 1 and 2 Common.
“Most of the lumber that we sell goes into flooring, but we sell to other end use manufacturers, as well as distributors,” he noted. “Our customers’ sales are also order to order, but they told me they are still able to keep busy.”
A lumber representative in Oregon said that while his market has continued to be fair, it is on the slower side. “We are doing better than we were six months ago,” he noted, adding that this is due in part to the upper grade Maple market that his company sells into.
His company offers Cherry in thicknesses of 4/4-12/4, Hard Maple in 4/4 thickness, Soft Maple in thicknesses of 4/4-8/4 and Red Oak in thicknesses of 4/4 and 5/4. They offer all of these species in a variety of upper grades.
“We sell to furniture, cabinet and millwork manufacturers, distributors and we export to Europe and Asia,” he said. “Most of customers are continuing to stay steady with their order portfolios keeping them busy.”
Another Californian lumber provider said that his market remains ambivalent, and while their sales are slightly worse than they were six months ago, they are still doing okay. “The downturn that we are experiencing is due to the interest rates continuing to be higher than they have been over the past couple of years,” he added. “The hardwood market does well when people want to spend money and are buying and remodeling homes.”
His company offers a variety of hardwood species that include Basswood, Cherry, Hard and Soft Maple, Red and White Oak, Walnut and Hickory in thicknesses of 4/4-16/4, in all upper grades. “White Oak continues to sell well for us, but we believe that we may have seen it peak as we are starting to see Red Oak sell better,” he noted.
He mentioned that his company sells to end use manufacturers and lumber yards. When asked if any of his customers mentioned how their sales were faring, he said that they have all told him that their sales are slow, especially his lumber yard customers. “My cabinet shop customers used to have a year’s worth of back logged orders, now some of their back logs are only a month out.”
He noted that while he has several lifelong employees working for him, he has continued to have trouble filling entry level positions.
