Southeast Business Trends
Southern Yellow Pine Is A Bestseller While Some Prices Are Problematic
By Lara Stearsman
Associate Editor
While fuel prices and the Iran war are popular discussions, issues such as finding quality labor (especially truck drivers), logistics disruptions, insurance pricing and the potential overstock of products by early buyers, don’t lie too far beneath the surface.
A South Carolina lumber representative claimed the market in his area is “firming up and getting better. I think factors aside from increased demand are driving the uptick in the market. I think everybody got their inventory low and there has been a lot of reduced production on the dimension mills.”
The market is “barely” better than six months ago. He explained potential causes for any struggle in the market. “Trucking is a lot worse because of fuel prices and recently, I heard that the number of trucks that have gone off the roads in the last two to three months number around 18,000. Doing away with the non-citizens who drive mean we have less people who can work trucking. We used to get a lot of truck drivers who were Polish, Ukrainian, Russian or from Central and South America, but we don’t get them anymore. I don’t know what happened to them.”
Southern Yellow Pine in 4/4, 8/4 and large timbers are what they produce. “The rough 4/4 is the bestseller,” he added.
He briefly discussed his customers and shared more details about transportation. “We are over 50 percent export. My customers have shared concerns about the market and are still only booking a few weeks out because of the logistics disruptions. The issue is the same domestically – taking a week to 10 days to get a truck, so they are buying items they don’t really need right now because they are worried about getting it in the future. I feel like that is a recipe for a downturn. I’m expecting domestic transportation to get worse. The smaller, independent, family-owned businesses have costs increasing. Insurance is going up a lot, which is causing a lot of problems.”
Trucking and the Iran war have replaced tariffs in the Southeast as hot topics for the softwood industry.
While they aren’t short-staffed, he stated that they need more “quality” in their workforce.
At the time of this writing, the market has “slowed up a bit the past week” but it is “better than six months ago” in Florida according to a local lumber spokesperson.
She attributed the slowdown to trucking issues.
Southern Yellow Pine in Nos. 1 through 4 Common and MSR2850 are what they offer. “I would say all grades are moving right now,” she added before sharing that the majority of her customer base is wholesalers.
She commented that the “situation with Iran might be causing some worry” when asked if there was anything of note in addition to fuel prices to be concerned about at the time of this writing. “Hopefully, we’ll get through this war and fuel prices will come down and get trucks back on the road,” she stated.
Despite some turmoil, they have a stable labor force.
“The market is very good right now” in Alabama, as stated by a lumber representative. “Pricing and demand in our area are both good but the primary driver behind the market is the good weather right now. Once the sun starts shining, it is a lot easier to build houses.” The market is improved compared to six months prior.
In addition to their bestseller, Southern Yellow Pine, which is “always going to be our best seller because it is growing down here,” he said they offer Cypress, Spruce and Cedar. Grades sold include No. 2 Common and Clear.
They sell to retail lumberyards who, in turn, sell to builders. “Fuel is a primary concern” for him and his customers because “diesel is so expensive. When we are at war, that’s obviously a concern because we never know what is going to happen. It has made people stop talking about tariffs so much because six months ago, that’s all people talked about.”
While they have benefitted from having their own fleet of trucks, they have encountered some difficulties because their customers don’t. “They are at the mercy of the trucking companies, and they are certainly in a delay,” he remarked.
“I don’t like to make predictions – I don’t have a crystal ball, but we have a lot of things in the pipeline so we might have some decent months ahead. As long as Southern Yellow Pine keeps climbing and doesn’t crash suddenly, it’ll be great,” he shared.
