West Coast lumber providers with whom we spoke judge their lumber markets to be in positive territory – but not way into the positive.
“It’s been pretty positive,” said a source in Washington. “We’re shipping everything east of the Mississippi right now. That’s how we’ve always done it. We ship lumber far and wide – from Texas to Vermont, from Wisconsin to Georgia. We’re just finding tight availability. We’ve booked quite a few loads this month. Obviously, there’s a lot of shortages, so people are being aggressive on their purchasing. They’re not hesitant, even though the prices keep going up. That’s why they keep buying, I guess, thinking they’ll run out of lumber.”
Compared to a year ago, “We might be doing a little better,” he stated.
He said he’s selling a lot of Poplar, Hard Maple, low grade Oak, Hickory and White Oak.
His customers, he noted, are “mostly end users.” Their business “seems pretty robust,” he remarked.
Transportation is “just terrible,” he said. “It’s hard to get trucks.”
In California, a lumberman said the market is “pretty good.” He observed that, “The market is still kind of order- to-order. This has been going on at least a year. But business has been consistent. You have to have inventory in order to sell in this market.”
Compared to six months ago, the market is “about the same, which is OK,” he noted.
He handles Walnut, White Oak and Hickory in Uppers No. 1 and No. 2 in 4/4.
His sales are to distribution yards and flooring companies. “They say they’ve been pretty busy.”
Transportation is not a problem for his firm. He noted, “we’re really lucky. There are so many trucks here, we don’t have an issue. I’m driving in the LA area and I see a trucking company that I’ve never heard of, and you can’t believe how many trucks they have.”
Northward, in Oregon, a lumber provider said the market for his products is “fairly strong.” The market is better than it was six months earlier, he stated.
He handles about 80 different species. On the West Coast, he sells primarily upper grades. The species he sells include a full supply of domestic as well as a wide variety of imported woods. The best sellers, he observed, are Poplar, White Oak, Walnut and imported Sapele.
His customers include end users, including cabinet shop/furniture manufacturers and retail lumberyards. “I haven’t talked to anybody who’s slow,” he observed. “Everybody has work. Some businesses are swamped.”
Lumber availability is affecting his firm. “Our plant in Indiana is having trouble getting Poplar,” he stated. “That’s like going to a diner and they don’t have potatoes. Transportation is a little slow, but it hasn’t stopped us from getting anything.
“Inflation has reared its ugly head everywhere,” he observed. “Plywood costs are going up, lumber costs are going up, shipping costs are going up – everything seems to be going up now.”
