By Matthew Fite
Staff Writer
The Softwood market in the Southeast is doing phenomenally well and breaking records, to judge by comments from lumber suppliers.
In Louisiana, a contact who sells to end use manufacturers deemed the Softwood market “insane.” He explained: “The domestic demand has surged to a level that I certainly have never seen in my 22 years. But I’ve spoken to some of my peers who have been in the business for 40 years, and they say they’ve never seen anything like this.”
He said demand at first was great for No. 2 Primes, 4x4s, 6x6s and radius-edge decking. Then about five weeks ago, when those products became in short supply, demand increased for Nos. 1 and 2 Common. “What’s happened is because the mills are getting such a high return for the narrows, the 2×4 and the 2×6, items like 8- and 10-inch have basically disappeared. They’re being cut into green to the narrows, where the demand is. And, also the 8-inch cant has gone away as people are making more radius-edge decking, which is trading at historically high numbers.”
About 90 percent of what this source sells is Southern Yellow Pine, but some colleagues have told him that Eastern White Pine also is trading at “crazy” levels. “Every day is a struggle, but the demand is unbelievable,” the lumber supplier remarked. “I’m on the phone sometimes for 10, 11 or 12 hours a day with people calling, looking for products. Just because I’ve been doing this for so long, I am still able to find some lumber and piece together some decent sales, but it takes three or four times the effort that it normally does. If it weren’t for my long-standing relationships, I would be out of luck. If you were a new guy, you would be starving to death right now.”
The market is much stronger than it was six months ago, according to a lumber supplier in Mississippi. “It’s extremely strong, it’s historically strong,” he said. “We service the industrial side of the marketplace. In most products, we haven’t seen a huge run-up in prices, but what we have seen is extremely high demand. So, from our perspective, the challenge is just having enough product to ship our customers’ increasing demands, which is an indication that business is good.”
He said manufacturers of Softwood products are getting better prices because of the demand. “I think everybody’s happy on the manufacturing end because prices keep going up and up because of all of this home-center demand,” said the lumber supplier, who sells low-grade Southern Yellow Pine in a gamut of sizes. “Everything’s in high demand.”
The 40-year industry veteran said, in his experience, a long market in any given direction usually last about two months. “We’re well past that,” he noted, and predicted the strong market might last until Oct. 1. “Business is really good, and we’re happy to be where we are.”
The seasonal increase in freight rates and tighter truck availability arrived a little later than usual this spring/summer, he said. “We’re still moving trucks every day,” the contact said, though delivery is taking a little longer than usual.
Another lumber contact in Louisiana/Texas gave a similar report, pointing to a “record breaking” market because of the demand exceeding supply. “It just continues to surge,” he said. “It’s been good.”
The contact sells Southern Yellow Pine to retail lumberyards, industrials and treaters. He said No. 2 Prime is the preferred grade, “but there’s been such a shortage of lumber–home centers are driving that–and they’re using No. 1 in its place. Any high grade, really. But No. 2 is still moving as well.”
“Shortage” is the main word he hears from customers. “Price doesn’t even really seem to be a factor right now,” the lumber supplier commented. “There’s just more of a need for material than even worrying about price at this point. Home centers now are out of control as far as their business. It’s outrageous. Their usage is unlike anything ever before.”
A lumber representative in Florida, who sells Southern Yellow Pine and SPF, agreed. “There are no words for this market,” he said. “It’s very mysterious. It defies everybody’s conventional wisdom. Nobody expected what we have now.”
All Softwood species and sizes are selling well, with studs in predominately 8′-, 9′-, 10′- being very busy, the contact reported. Customers are home centers, big box stores, and contractor yards. The lumber source has experienced occasional issues with railroad delivery. “They’re not as Johnny on-the-spot, so there’s a little bit of supply gap,” he noted.
Another lumber representative, in Arkansas, remarked that trucking has tightened because of driver availability. He sells SYP to retail lumberyards, distribution yards and end users. “It’s a very strong market,” he commented, adding all market segments are doing well. n
