Sources in the Inland West report that the Softwood lumber market there is strong. One person in Arizona said it is “very strong, very, very busy.” He said conditions are probably better than they were six months earlier. Back then, he stated, we were going into the time of COVID-19 and people were not sure about what was happening with this pandemic. “Now,” he said, “we’ve been working through it, and it’s very busy.”
His business sells Spruce, White Fir and Doug Fir, with everything in No. 2 and dry. Asked which species sells best, he observed, “Actually, now, it’s whatever you have, because there’s so many out-of-stocks everywhere. It pretty much doesn’t matter. They call you and they want a specific item and, when you don’t have it, they buy whatever you have.” This source’s firm sells to distribution. “Most of them tell us how slammed they are,” he noted. “Trying to get good workers on the job sites is their biggest concern. The cost of lumber is another concern.”
Asked if transportation is a problem, he replied, “Absolutely. With COVID, the availability of trucking has been severely affected. If I order something that’s supposed to ship in two weeks, it is likely to ship in six weeks; it’s just sitting there waiting for a car.”
In Wyoming, a lumber provider said business is “ridiculous” in a good way. He said the high volume of sales “looks like it’s going to maintain through the end of the year at least.” Compared to six months earlier, he stated, “Prices are better.” He added: “Frustration’s at an all-time high because there’s more demand than there is supply. If you look at the health of a market, I don’t think that what we’re seeing from the mill’s perspective is a healthy market. But prices are great. There’s more business than can be fulfilled right now.” His establishment sells Ponderosa Pine. Sales are primarily to distribution. “Their customers are just as frustrated as everyone else. Everyone is struggling to keep people as happy as possible, so they don’t lose the business in the future.” “Transportation,” he noted, “is our number one issue right now.” Primarily this company ships via trucks.
A lumber provider in Idaho sells primarily Pine and Cedar “and both of those are still very good,” he stated. The market is “better” than it was six months earlier, he added. He sells Pine in No. 2 Common, No. 3 Common, No. 4 Common and shop. “All of them are selling well,” he said. He sells Cedar in No. 4, which also is selling well, he remarked. His business sells primarily to distribution and home centers. Their business, he observed, is “still very good. Initially, when COVID happened, people were nervous and didn’t want to buy anything. It quickly became apparent that our market segment was going to be very good. The products we manufacture are just doing very well. They’re selling out of our product as soon as it hits their shelves.” He said transportation has not been a problem. “Things have gotten tight in transportation, but it’s still flowing and working,” he stated.
