New reports suggest the current conditions of limited inventories and last-minute ordering is continuing between the US and Canada.
Madison’s Lumber Reporter wrote that Southern Yellow Pine East Side 2×4 prices were back down to where they had been in January and February. It added that Western Spruce-Pine-Fir 2×4 prices, often considered a benchmark, steadily increased by nominal amounts before staying flat for two solid months.
At the end of May, Western Spruce-Pine-Fir 2×4 #2&Btr KD (RL) was $490 mfbm (thousand board feet), which was flat from the previous week, Madison’s reported and flat with a month ago. This is up 9 percent from a year ago and 28 percent from two years ago.
Pine East Side 2×4 #2&Btr KD (RL) was $480 mfbm, up 1 percent from the week before and down 14 percent from a month ago.
Reflecting the weak housing market, Madison’s wrote: “There was general apathy and lack of urgency among buyers, which is unusual for this time of year.”
