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WEST COAST Continued from page 7 At another California firm, a lumberman said, “Lumber is tight, but the market is strong. “There’s less lumber than six months ago,” he added. He handles Walnut, White Oak and Hickory, all uppers, No. 1 Common and No. 2 Common. He sells lumber to flooring companies and distribution yards. “Most of them say their sales are very good,” he noted. Unlike many other lumber companies, this one has no trouble with transportation. “There are so many trucks here,” the lumber provider stated. “We’re very fortunate.” To the north, in Oregon, a source said his market is “booming on the demand side. About every specie is in demand, almost every grade.” However, he added, product scarcity weighs heavily on his customers. He has good order files but struggles with not enough product to meet demand. “We’ll see as we go into summer if this changes,” he stated. The market is “clearly better now,” he declared. His business handles 14 species of Hardwoods, including Alder, Hard and Soft Maple, Cherry, Red and White Oak, Basswood, Hickory and Walnut. He sells these species to both distribution yards and end users. “Transportation has been difficult,” he remarked. “We Church 14_Layout 1 4/17/18 3:43 PM Page 1 deliver all over the nation.” Trucking and overseas shipping are both issues, he noted. n ONTARIO Continued from page 8 ventories have worked down, with some companies noting shortages of thicker stocks. As stated, production has increased, but the focus is on more valuable species. Supplies of green lumber are low for certain thicknesses. Some contacts stated there are still shortages for Hard Maple, even though mills are saying they are receiving more logs than in the past couple of months. Production is not meeting demand, and buyers are struggling to increase their inventories of this species. Prices, of course, are on the rise. Demand of kiln-dried stocks is outpacing available supplies, they commented, with kiln-dried inventories being thin to nonexistent for some. Like Hard Maple, demand for Soft Maple is equally strong, with markets readily absorbing green and kilndried supplies. Contacts stated the price difference between these two species is seen as an advantage to using Soft Maple. Consumers’ prefer the look of Maple rather than opened grained species. Production is not keeping pace with demand from buyers, and prices are up also for most grades and thicknesses. Sales of color selected items are strong. We at Bryant Church Hardwoods, Inc., located in Wilkesboro, NC, are proud of our modern Hardwood concentration yard facility that we constantly update to better serve our customers with the finest Appalachian Hardwood and Eastern White Pine lumber available. Call us at (336) 973-3691 when we can be of service. This is an aerial view of our modern Hardwood concentration yard where we process quality Appalachian Hardwood and Eastern White Pine lumber. Some facts about our company are, we: •Have a 30 acre Hardwood and Eastern White Pine lumber concentration yard that exclusively represents one sawmill. •Specialize in all thicknesses of kiln dried Eastern White Pine lumber. •Deal in Appalachian Hardwood species such as Red and White Oak, Poplar, Ash, Hard and Soft Maple, Steamed Walnut, Cherry, Basswood, Beech and mixed Hardwoods. •Market our Appalachian Hardwood lumber in 4/4 through 8/4 thicknesses that is green, air dried and/or kiln dried. •Specialize in mixed truck loads. •Have 9 steam dry kilns that have a combined dry kiln capacity of 630,000 bd. ft. per charge. •Own a Newman 382 planer. •Usually carry about 4,000,000 bd. ft. on our air drying yard. •Usually carry about 1,500,000 bd. ft. of kiln dried lumber in inventory. •Offer export preparation, container loading and package tally. •Offer the service of sorting lumber at special lengths, widths and grades according to customer specifications. •Use our own trucks and contract trucks for prompt delivery of your orders. •Have over 75 years of combined experience in the lumber business. Tim Church Mason Church Bus.: (336) 973-3691 FAX: (336) 973-7993 (800) 973-3380 46 APRIL 2021 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE Web site: http://BCHI.com P.O. Box 995 • Wilkesboro, NC 28697 Distribution Yard: 683 Buck Road • Wilkesboro, NC 28697 Because we’ve been in business since 1953, we have many years of experience that helps us to ship your orders right the first time.
The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO) released its latest report on Ontario’s labor market, evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on employment across various demographic groups, industries, and major cities. Overall, Ontario lost 355,300 jobs last year, marking the province’s largest annual decline in employment on record. The job loss caused the province’s annual unemployment rate to jump to 9.6 percent in 2020, the highest since 1993. Some of the statistics in the report include, Thunder Bay (-5.9 percent) and Greater Sudbury (-6.7 percent) experienced job loss at a sharper pace relative to the provincial average. Construction in Greater Sudbury and the wholesale and retail trade in Thunder Bay drove the job losses, according to the report. The FAO report said many of Ontario’s Census Metropolitan Areas experienced record declines in annual employment, although the pace varied across regions. Peterborough recorded the toughest job losses (-13.5 percent) among the major cities in 2020, with two fifths of the decline in the construction sector. Windsor (-10.9 percent) was second, with significant contractions in wholesale and retail trade, and information, culture and recreation. The report also stated that another 765,000 people had work hours cut. Youth unemployment jumped to 22 percent. Labor groups, noting many people still out of work and facing an end to emergency benefits, called on Ottawa to provide extra weeks of aid beyond the maximum 26. The latest federal data (as of February 2021) show the Canada Recovery Benefit has paid out .88 billion in the 0-a-week aid to more than 1.7 million people in the past four months. The federal government has started receiving the COVID-19 vaccines and has started their rollout across many provinces. It is expected that all Canadians should be vaccinated by September. As global vaccination efforts continue, it is everyone’s hope that this will greatly reduce the spread of the coronavirus and we will be able to return to a normal life. n QUEBEC Continued from page 8 needs, especially for the upper grades. With improved economic conditions, there is a need for all kinds of goods which has driven stronger demand for wooden pallets and containers. Mills and wholesalers are not having any difficulty shipping pallet lumber and cants. Even though there was a ramp up in production in the last few months, production remains low. Please turn the page When you need a custom solution Cooper Machine is the place to call! From Merchandising Systems to Scraggs and beyond, Cooper Machine has solutions to make pallet material, cants, lumber, mats, staves as well as equipment for the cooperage industry... Let’s cut down on your labor expenses together! We look forward to seeing you at the Richmond Expo May 21-22 Merchandising System for Tree Length Logs Stepfeeder/Tandem Scragg for Finished Pallet Cants Whether A Single Machine or a Whole Mill, Cooper Machine has Quality, Custom Designs to Fit Your Needs Give us a call to find out more at 478-252-5885 INFO@COOPERMACHINE.COM WWW.COOPERMACHINE.COM APRIL 2021 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 47
