Lumber suppliers in the Lake States reported being busy, with good sales and, in one case, difficulty in keeping up with demand.
A Wisconsin source called his market very good. “I’d say since about a month after COVID went into effect, it’s been strong.” He added that his market is “better” than it was six months ago.
His lumber species include Red and White Oak, Hard and Soft Maple, Basswood, Cherry and Hickory. His customers are distribution yards and end users. “I haven’t been exporting a lot the last year and a half,” he noted. “Domestic customers can’t get enough lumber right now, but they can’t really give me any rhyme or reason for their markets. They’re just taking it as it comes.”
Transportation, he said, is “not really” an issue. “Getting containers is an issue, but I’m not really dealing with that a lot.”
In Indiana, a lumberman called his market “very strong. However, our customers are having trouble getting their needs fulfilled, especially in Walnut and White Oak.” The market is “definitely better” than fall of last year, he stated.
This firm handles more than 10 species in various thicknesses in uppers and No. 1 and No. 2 Common.
Customers’ sales are strong, he commented. Occasionally, he encounters a delayed shipment, and there is a bottleneck going into the Southern California market, he observed.
“Quite busy” is how a Michigan lumber manufacturer described his market. His business is better than it was six months ago, he said. “It’s about as busy as it’s been in 10 years, I’d say.”
Products include Hard and Soft Maple, Red and White Oak, Hickory, Walnut and Cherry.
He said his customers are 50-50 between distribution yards and end users. “They’re busy,” he noted. “Finding wood is the toughest part for us,” he said. “We struggled from about mid-November to Christmas. Since Christmas, logs have been coming in.”
Finding trucks and rising truck rates have been problematic, he stated. “Finding containers for West Coast shipments has been extremely tough,” he said. “So transportation has become a challenge.”
