Editor
Throughout the Southeast region lumber suppliers shared similar sentiments regarding how slow their marketplaces were doing at press time.
In Alabama a lumber spokeswoman noted that her sales are worse than they were six months ago, and her company hasn’t been doing as well as it has been.
Her company offers Southern Yellow Pine in thicknesses of 2×4, 2×6, 3×4, 4×4 and in lengths of 8-feet, 10-feet and 12-feet. She also noted that they offer a variety of PET material including 92-5/8, 104-5/8 and 116-5/8. “We have our primary lengths, but we will cut any length that one of our customers wants,” she added. When asked which of the products that her company offers is selling the best, she stated that it appears to be the 2×4’s in 8-feet length.
She noted that while she has quite a few orders on the books, none of her customers are ready for those orders to be shipped out.
Her company primarily sells to lumber treaters, truss manufacturers, remanufacturers and brokers. Many of her customers share her same thoughts on the marketplace moving slowly.
She noted that while she isn’t having trouble finding transportation, she isn’t able to hire drivers due to her customers delaying the shipments of their orders.
A North Carolinian lumberman said that his company’s sales aren’t as strong as they were earlier this year, but they are still able to move their products.
“On paper we look like we are doing better than we were six months ago, but our sales have dropped off over the past couple of months,” he noted.
His company handles Southern Yellow Pine in grades Nos. 1 and 2 Common, Prime and FAS and in thicknesses of 2×4, 2×6, 2×8, 2×10, 2×12, 4×6 and 6×6.
A majority of his customers are local mom and pop shops and lumber treaters. “We have contracts with a majority of our customers, so they are getting the same amount of lumber from us every month, and then if we have any lumber left over, we will sell that to the open market,” he said.
A sawmill representative in Mississippi said that his market isn’t doing very well, and that it is worse off than it was six months ago.
The specie of Softwood that his company handles is Southern Yellow Pine in industrial grades and in thicknesses primarily of 4/4 and 5/4 thicknesses. “We take our industrial grade Pine and turn it into pallet components that we then sell to pallet manufacturers,” he added.
In Louisiana a lumberman said that while his sales aren’t great, and despite the fact that they are worse than they were six months ago, they are still doing okay.
His company offers Southern Yellow Pine in grades Sap Prime, along with some lower grades, and in thicknesses of 1-inch, 2-inch, 3-inch and 4-inch.
He sells mainly to importers in the Middle East and Europe. “We have demand from our customers, but with the way that inflation is affecting other countries’ currencies, often times even if we haven’t changed the price on our products, they are still having to pay double the price.”
He noted that while the supply chain has continued to improve since COVID he is still having issues with securing steady qualified employees.
