Opinions regarding the state of the forest products industry in the Northeast varied among industry professionals in the region. A representative from a distribution yard in Pennsylvania said that business in her area was spotty but that certain items were selling well. Conversely, sawmill representatives in both Maine and Maryland were less optimistic when asked about their regions: “Very slow,” a sawyer in Maine said, while a spokesperson from a Maryland sawmill said, “Overall, it’s a little tough.”
The contact in Pennsylvania said that her business had improved over the previous six months and she expected the upward trend to continue as the industry emerges from, what she called, “the summer doldrums.” She explained that her optimism was fueled by internal changes that her business made in response to a lagging market.
The representative from a Maryland sawmill said that his business was worse than it was six months prior and while he remained hopeful that his business will rebound toward the start of 2025, he anticipates his market getting worse before it gets better: “The market is going to go down, but will it come up to what it is now, or will it go past what it is now? I don’t know, but it will be better than it’s going to be in the immediate future,” he said.
In Maine, the sawmill contact said that the market in his region was worse than it was over the first half of 2024. When asked how he expected the market to perform over the remaining months of the year, he said, “I don’t see any silver lining. I don’t see why it would improve for the next six months.”
Despite the overall perception of the market in Maine, Hard and Soft Maple were reportedly selling well. A provider of Hard and Soft Maple, Yellow Birch and Ash in all grades up to Prime, the Maine sawmill representative said that his company experienced no issues selling Hard and Soft Maple, especially in grades FAS and Better.
In other parts of the Northeast, White Oak was reportedly outselling all other species. The contact in Maryland said, “The Common and Better White Oak is red hot.” And while there is a market for Red Oak in Maryland, the source reported that sales of No. 2 and No. 3 Red and White Oak had drastically decreased. Poplar has also been selling well in the region leading the spokesperson to say that it was his second best-selling species at the time of this writing.
Poplar was also selling well in the region represented by the Pennsylvania distributor, but demand was dwindling. “Poplar has been moving, however we aren’t cutting a lot of it right now,” she said. Sales for Red and White Oak were strong in the region leading the contact to say that White Oak is selling best and Red Oak is outselling all species other than White Oak.
While customers of the Maine sawmill — end-use manufacturers and distributors — had not offered many comments on the state of their business, the mill spokesperson had recently attended an industry-wide meeting and said, “Everybody I talked to was commenting on their business being slow.”
Marketing to end users and distributors, the Maryland sawmill representative said that opinions on the regional market vary from customer to customer. Further supporting what was reported in Pennsylvania, he said, “It’s spotty.”
The spokesperson from Pennsylvania said that her customer base had evolved in reaction to the industry in her region and that her company sells to a wider range of customers than ever: distributors, end users and wholesalers. Her customers are reportedly expecting a busier fall and are optimistic about the winter.
Weather continued to play a role in the Northeast leading one contact to say that abnormal humidity in the area created issues with staining that forced him to drop the price of certain materials.
