Photos By Paul Miller Jr.
The 28th Annual West Side Hardwood Club Meeting and Fish Fry was recently enjoyed by approximately 50 attending guests, who enjoyed the festivities at Turner Neal Lodge and Seven Devils Legacy.
The mood was business as usual as the industry continues to face a market downturn. Attendees noted there is not a lot of inventory at the mills and business is poor. The bright spot, they reported, is railroad ties although there have been some quotas for some mills. The general consensus is that the lumber market will have a shortage of lumber come spring of next year. Normally at the time of this meeting, mills are starting to build log inventories for the winter and there is not much of that happening right now, noted attendees.
Other than that, it was noted that two or three flooring plants had shut down and those that are operating are trying to curtail production.
Additionally, there were a couple of bankers in attendance who talked about interest rates and how the Fed was expected to drop at least a quarter point within the next week or so of this meeting. They felt like rates would continue to drop, which should help the housing market, they said.
The West Side Hardwood Club is headquartered in Sparkman, AR and can be reached by calling 870-678-2317.
