Why did lumber prices increase so much in the last 18 months?

[MarkTrew]

Repeating the subject, anyone have thought?
MarkTrew

 

[Lee in Texas]

I would guess new home construction is part of it. I’m in construction plumbing and my employer plumbed about 7500 houses last year. Work never slowed down during the pandemic. We get about 10 hours of overtime per week. There are several construction plumbing companies this size in central Texas.

 

[CJ6]

Same as everything else these days....Short staff (Covid),Supply and demand. If they can't cut trees it doesn't get to the mill demand exceeds supply.

 

[DirtySteve]

They are down here in the last 6 months.. A year ago it was crazy. $90 for a sheet of OSB..

 

[Straightshooter1]

Same as everything else these days....Short staff (Covid),Supply and demand. If they can't cut trees it doesn't get to the mill demand exceeds supply.

this ^^^^^^

Repeating the subject, anyone have thought?
MarkTrew

Yup, labor shortage has been the BIG deal with lumber prices . . . not only a shortage of tree fallers but also the laborers in the mills had a great shortage. Wild fires and housing boom are also significant factors.

 

[spencerhenry]

demand is a small part of it. Lumber prices were basically static from the 90's or even earlier up until this covid hoax.
Telling people that they couldnt run their businesses, telling workers to stay home if exposed all led to lack of production. Demand has stayed high and except for a blip last summer, prices have stayed high too. I don't see the mills upping production anytime soon. Why up production when you can make as much money of off 1/3 of what you used to? And, they created a bunch of people that would rather take the government check than go work for it. It's going to take quite a while to get back to any kind of normal. Especially with fuel prices going to the moon.

 

[bozo699]

Idk where people have got this information but lumber mills have been cutting more than ever before!….no mills in my area shut down at all during the pandemic, the mill I work at ramped up production added new equipment, upgraded old equipment. A major part at the beginning of the price increase was do to the pandemic as people were getting paid to stay home and they started remodeling and building new homes with there
“FREE” government stay home money!.. hurricanes and other natural disasters helped! Now with hyper inflation and people are use to paying higher prices same as with our components it’s going to take time to come down some but your never going to see $300/1000 lumber prices ever again same as your never going to see $10/1000 primer Prices!…
Wayne

 

[rijndael]

Prices have come down around here too, but I do see more people choosing Trex and other alternatives for decks. The huge price gap isn't like it was before, even if lumber prices have come down a little.

 

[SEGARE]

Increased demand and the bottleneck in mills created when when Covid would sweep through a department. i.e. someone in the sorting line got Covid and the whole department would be quarantined for 7-10d.

 

[Liven The Dream]

The sorting yards in Oregon are full of Logs . Small Mills closing, Indian Reservation Mill Closed over a year ago.
Home Depot had 3/4 sanded 2 side Ply Wood $70 a sheet . Imported from Thailand .

 

[rijndael]

I'll take Thailand over China. I haven't forgotten about the Chinese drywall problems.

 

[cotntop]

I have a friend that is a big logger and he shuts down on Friday because he reaches his quota on Thursday. High prices are due to a lot things including theft.

 

[joshb]

Most plywood is now made in Asia, thanks to cheap labor and no EPA or OSHA restrictions.
Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart and others are really just outlet’s for Chinese goods. Think about that. They’re everywhere!
You don’t hear many people bitching about China using slave labor or paying their workers $2 a week.
Still, those goods are caught in the supply chain breakdown while demand for new housing is at a record high. There are millions of “city folks” moving out of the cesspools of crime and corruption!

 

[Joe Maisto]

The sorting yards in Oregon are full of Logs . Small Mills closing, Indian Reservation Mill Closed over a year ago.
Home Depot had 3/4 sanded 2 side Ply Wood $70 a sheet . Imported from Thailand .

4-5 years ago, Menards in Milwaukee had a pallet of (get this).. 1/2" -9 ply- 20" x 20" panels , (good one side , tight knots on the other.) for under $4.00 ea. I took a whole stack of them and use them sparingly...

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Canada/US border crossing pandemic regs. That what the truckers were protesting about.

 

[Spook]

wait til the price reflects the increase in diesel prices

 

[Knotwild]

In our area the number of mills dwindled so there is no competition to obtain wood. The loser is the land owner. Land owners are not seeing any of this profit.

 

[Kittitas George]

Many of the inflationary price increases are "because we can". Just plain greed!! Hold back the product to lessen the supply, then increase the price. "Supply and demand" that's the way it works.

 

[BlueWater]

Repeating the subject, anyone have thought?
MarkTrew

Haven't read any analyses of the "lumber" industry (and related: housing, etc), but I would suspect it's largely due to:

- Covid and the slow-down impact on staffing
- Supply chain issues (ie, trucking, due to staffing)
- Housing demand (changes in building versus available materials supplies)

While much of the actual lumber cutting occurs out in the forests and at mills, much of the processing and supplying from that point on occurs with people in offices, in trucking firms, in railway firms, in the vendors' facilities (ie, Home Depot and other lumber shops). Covid likely had a similar impact in those places as it's had elsewhere, with staff illnesses, staff decisions to not work, difficulty replacing lost staff.

 

[Steveb]

Another big reason is the the US government has continued to place tariffs and taxes on Canadian lumber coming into the US. Canada is a huge supplier but the US has a history of placing tariffs against our lumber exports. Right now it is approaching 20% that the US consumers are forced to pay.