In the Southeast, reviews provided by lumber representatives have been primarily negative.
In Tennessee, a lumber spokesperson felt, at the time of this writing, “the market in general has softened. The demand doesn’t seem to be where it was three months ago.” According to him, it is worse than six months ago.
They offer “all Appalachian species” such as Poplar, Ash, Hard and Soft Maple, Cherry, Hickory and Red and White Oak in “all grades. FAS and Better through No. 3A Common for Oak. Thicknesses for Poplar are 4/4 – 6/4. White Oak is 4/4 – 6/4, too. Everything else is just straight 4 /4 and FAS and Better and No. 2A Common,” he listed. No. 1 Common in Poplar and No. 2 Common in Red Oak are selling the best. “White Oak,” he said, “has definitely softened up.”
They sell to trim, flooring, moulding and cabinet companies and distribution centers. The source noted that his customers have been saying “that their orders have slowed down and once their orders slow down, so do ours.”
He named interest rates as a negative effect on business as they “have affected housing starts and housing starts directly affect our business.”
A lumber sales representative in Virginia said that the market is “fair” because “prices just aren’t where they used to be” and that it is the same as six months ago.
They handle Poplar, Walnut, Red and White Oak in FAS No. 1 through No. 3 Common in addition to 4/4 through 8/4. White Oak is selling the best right now.
They sell domestically and to exporters.
A lumber spokesperson in Georgia said that the market there is slow and that the hurricanes have caused a lot of issues as there are “a lot of trees down and a lot of things that need to be cleaned up. It’s going to be interesting with the next several months.” As for other issues, he mentioned “housing and basic economic conditions. China is no longer the big market to go to anymore and it’s a transition from everything going to China, to everything going to other places and that’s going to take a while. Demand is down overall worldwide.” It is worse than six months ago, according to the source.
They offer Poplar, Ash, Cypress and Red and White Oak. They sell “pretty much all grades from No. 3A Common through FAS as well as No. 2 Common and FAS. White Oak is doing well. Ash is okay. Poplar is moving. The No. 1 and 2 Common Poplar is moving but it’s cheap. The biggest issue we’re having is with the No. 1 and 2 Common Red Oak- they’re the slowest,” he added. However, at the time of this writing, he said, “for the next month, we’re going to concentrate on pine more right now because it has a shorter shelf-life. We’re not going to stop on the hardwoods – we’ll still saw it. We’re just focusing on pine out of necessity.”
As for their customer base, he said they’re “still doing a lot of export into Asia and some moulding manufacturers- primarily domestically but we’re still heavy into the export.” He also mentioned that his customers have been commenting that “their order files aren’t where they used to be. If they were wide open, they’d be buying more lumber. If they don’t have orders, they can’t buy lumber. We always have these magic dates such as ‘After the first of the year, it’s going to be great. In the spring or after Chinese New Year, it’s going to pick up.’ There’s nothing out there that indicates things are going to get much better any time soon. It’s going to be a slow recovery. They’re hopeful dates, something to make us get up in the morning and go out and see if we can make it to that date because after that, it’s going to be fine. In the old days, we always knew that China was always going to be buying; they were always going to take volume but now, they’re not and they’re not coming back. We don’t have that to fall back on. We’ve lost that huge market and that’s the biggest issue. Nobody’s going to speculate right now because we don’t have a clue.”
He listed interest rates as another issue his business is facing and that labor is “always an issue. We’re fortunate that we don’t have a lot of turnover. Most of my guys have been working with me for well over 10 years.” He also added the EUDR regulations to his list of problems, saying “it can’t work like it is. It’s impossible and at least they’re starting to see that because there’s a year’s reprieve on that. They will make some changes.”
He said that he “hopes things get better.”
