Supply and demand, as well as trucking issues, daunt Southeastern lumber suppliers.
“Distribution and supply chain issues are real,” said a Tennessee lumber supplier. The company had a month’s worth of orders on the floor to ship but couldn’t secure containers or truck schedules. “It’s unbelievable how we can struggle to try to get goods and services from one area of the country to another region in the world,” he said. “It’s a total disaster.”
The firm’s lumber is sold to customers associated with architectural millwork and custom end use markets. He said export lumber buyers appeared to have paused orders. “The kiln dried lumber is somewhat taking a breather,” he reported. “There’s not a rush. People aren’t afraid they can’t find a load of lumber today like they were six months ago. There’s no big ‘I gotta buy at all costs’ sentiment. That kind of push is no longer out there.”
Ash was selling well at the time of this writing, along with Basswood, which was limited in availability. While Hickory sales were decent, Cherry remained stagnant and Red Oak was flat. The Maples were decent to good. “We don’t have access to a lot of good Hard or Soft Maple,” he said. “By nature of volume of Maples in our area, the end use manufacturers are competing for green lumber.”
Regular customers expect consistency in supplies and quality, he added. “We are still doing a lot of regular lumber business where some of our customers are not taking the volumes they took in the past,” he noted.
Transportation continues to be a hassle in Virginia. “Trucking is an absolute nightmare,” said a sawmill sales manager. “They change the bookings daily.” As an example, a freight forwarder sent a new booking. The next day, it had already changed. “It changes in the blink of an eye. We can’t get lumber moved. Trucks are hard to come by too. It’s getting hard to move anything. While demand is good, getting it transported is another thing.”
The company markets No. 3 Common and Better in 4/4 thickness to distribution yards and end users. The firm relies on a local trucking company which was shortchanged because half of its crew had COVID. “The entire booking situation in regard to shipping overseas is a nightmare,” the lumber representative said. “It’s hard to get anything moved.”
His market has remained strong, however, for Poplar, Red and White Oak, and Walnut. Red Oak wasn’t experiencing strong demand.
While market-wise, things have been going well, running the operation was another issue. “We are trying to keep enough people to keep the mill running and grading line going,” the source said. “We had to shut down the mill awhile. We just can’t get enough help.” Typically, the mill employs 49 people. Its current payroll is 29.
Supply issues challenge a North Carolina yard. “We have struggled to find supply, and are not able to keep sales up much now,” said the contact.
Labor issues have threatened his entire supply chain. “Labor issues have affected both the ability of our green producers to supply green lumber and also for our customers to produce products as quickly as they might otherwise be able to,” he observed.
Many of the firm’s customers struggle to keep up with demand in terms of materials they receive and what they can produce, he said. The company markets Red and White Oak, Walnut and Hard and Soft Maple in 4/4, 5/4, 6/4 and 8/4 thicknesses in Nos. 1 and 2 Common and FAS to cabinet and furniture manufacturers, as well as building suppliers.
“The market is slow now,” he observed. During the summer, though, demand was higher for kiln dried but steadily decreased.
FAS grade Poplar was in better demand at his firm as of this writing than No.1 Common or No. 2 Common. Red Oak was moving fairly well. Soft and Hard Maple lumber in 4/4 thickness was also selling briskly.
