Forest2Market has enhanced Mill2Market, its quarterly performance benchmark for both sellers and mill-direct buyers of lumber. The quarterly report is now an interactive tool that allows subscribers to run "what if" scenarios. Using this tool, owners and managers can easily evaluate company performance compared to the market and develop go-forward trading strategies.
Since the U.S. economy began recovering from the global economic recession in early 2009, the data we collect in our stumpage price database points to a contrast between timber prices in the Coastal and Piedmont regions of the US South over the last 4- to 5-year period.
An interesting phenomenon is taking place out west. Within the past 10 months, three mills have been purchased by companies headquartered in the East or South.
Early in 2014, Western log prices soared to levels not seen in nearly twenty years. Escalating softwood lumber prices and a strong appetite for Asian exports fueled competition to meet Western log consumption.
Recovery in the housing sector slowed throughout the first quarter of 2014. Housing starts remained below the one million mark needed to meet demographic growth, and both new and existing home sales sputtered.
The Softwood Lumber Board has released its 2013 Annual Report. The report itemizes both revenue generated by the check-off and outlines the accomplishments of implemented programs during the year.
Since we launched our suite of services for those who buy and sell paper and packaging recovered from waste streams, Forest2Market has talked to hundreds of industry participants about their waste recycling contracts and the importance of having credible market-based pricing that can serve as the basis for their contract indexes.
