National Hardwood Magazine - July 2011

ALC MEETING - Continued
my opinion, counting the sales of the lower,
middle and high grades of lumber, the overall
market is a six.”
Another lumberman who is the owner of a
Hardwood concentration yard with dry kilns
explained, “Our business is fantastic! We
changed the way we started doing business a
few years ago and so right now I cannot complain.
On a scale of one to 10, our business is
about an eight. We’re selling lumber in both
the domestic and export markets, and, we’re
doing well in both markets. We have all the
certification schemes – we’re triple certified.
As far as prices of lumber goes, some species
are tight and moving up in price but there’s
still a lot of cheap lumber out there. One way
we’ve changed is about three years ago, we
started buying a lot more kiln dried lumber
from lumber suppliers than green lumber.”
The final comments obtained for this column as
far as what lumber conditions were like, presently,
came from an owner of a Hardwood concentration
yard who said, “I think most of your mills
are short on logs. Oak logs are not bringing the
higher prices that they once were, and so I’m concerned.
Landowners will tend to hold onto their
timber when prices for Oak logs are low like they
are now. So I think if Oak lumber prices improve,
the Oak timber prices will rise and mills will be
able to get more timber, weather permitting. He
also said, “2A and 3A Oak lumber is such a driving
factor for the sawmills, and, prices are low. So
they need to come up. I’d say on a scale of one to
10, our business is about a six.”
In closing, Jamie Straka, of Vernon James Co.,
located in Hickory, N.C., who also serves as president
of the Appalachian Lumbermen’s Club,
made several remarks at the last cocktail party in
Myrtle Beach recently. He thanked everyone for
attending the meeting and said that the turnout
was larger at this particular meeting this year over
last year, even though the club has a few less
members in 20l1 versus 2010. He mentioned that
the club means a lot of different things to a lot of
different people.
He commented, “This club means a lot to me and
it’s a great social avenue for us to discuss business
conditions with other lumbermen. But above all, I
want you to remember that this is your club and
the way to grow it is to contact your business
friends and encourage them to join the club
because it’s the best deal out there!”
After Straka announced where future meetings of
the club will be held, he handed the microphone
over to Cliff McKittrick to announce who was on
the first and second place golf teams, and what
prizes each team won.
•
PENN-YORK MEETING -
Continued from page 26
The U.S. Hardwood lumber production was
down to approximately 7 billion board feet of production
in 2010, Inman said. Most traditional markets
for lumber declined while railroad ties and
exports saw slight growth.
Inman discussed each market beginning with
pallets, which was down to approximately 3 billion
board feet of consumption. Pallet and industrial
crating material are directly impacted by the
economy and shipment of goods.
The furniture, cabinet, millwork and flooring
industries continue to purchase at lower levels
because demand for residential housing is low.
Flooring had a sales bump in 2010 with remodeling
gains but much of that has retreated in early
2011.
Export markets are a bright spot in 2011 as they
grew to almost 16 percent of Hardwood lumber
Please turn to page 36
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