National Hardwood Magazine - June 2015

NWFA PHOTOS Continued

NWFA PHOTOS Continued Cary Moon, Hardwood Federation, Washington, DC; Renee Hornsby, National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA), Memphis, TN; Tommy Maxwell, Maxwell Hardwood Flooring, Monticello, AR; Dana Lee Cole, Hardwood Federation; Jack Shannon III, Shamrock Plank Flooring, Memphis, TN; and John Hester, NHLA Randy Wisner, Missouri Walnut LLC, Portland, OR/Ontario, CA; and Steve Arnold, Missouri Walnut LLC, Neosho, MO/ Ontario, CA Terry Miller, National Hardwood Magazine, Memphis, TN; Michael Martin, President and CEO of National Wood Flooring Association, St. Louis, MO; and Jack Shannon III, Shamrock Plank Flooring, Memphis, TN Caleb Reed, Stanley Lumber, Waynesboro, MS; Tim Thornburgh, Linden Lumber LLC, Linden, AL; Greg McCourt, Capital Forest Products, Hingham, MA; and Jamey Hurst and Hugh Overmyer, Linden Lumber LLC 42 JUNE 2015 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE

SOUTHWESTERN CLUB Continued from page 26 gling to build our log inventory back up. Exports are fair but prices are weaker than we’d like.” A mill operator in Texas reported, “It’s been raining three months steadily and it’s so wet that logging for pulpwood is almost impossible. We are out of logs.” A Mississippi owner of several mills said, “Two of our mills are running 45 hours a week and we’re selling most of the lumber green. Sales are all right, at least they are steady.” Another mill owner said, “There is not much good news in the Oak market. Demand and prices are softening in Red and White Oak. Walnut is still holding up and we can’t get enough Ash or Poplar to fill strong demand for those items. Hard Maple demand is also weak. Strip flooring is the pits right now, but plank and engineered flooring is moving well.” A company manager operating three tie mills in Mississippi said, “We are in the mat business making board road material for the oil fields in Canada and the U.S. We make a lot of ties, tie siding and pallet material. We are getting in plenty of logs. Some of the market is good and some isn’t. We can’t make enough ties to meet demand for that product. Last year everything was very strong, but this year is not as good.” A central Mississippi mill owner said, “We haven’t logged five consecutive days since January due to rainfall. Our mat business is really good, but logs are tough to get in with all the rain.” A mill owner in Alabama said, “We are operating 45 hours a week at our mill. Our warehouses are filling up with lumber. The flooring business is terrible. Property insurance has doubled recently. If you haven’t bought insurance recently, get ready for higher prices. Our Asian friends (China) are as fragmented as we are over here, but somehow they have managed to (in unison) turn off demand and purchasing from over there. Surely it couldn’t be collusion in their buying?” Another central Mississippi sawmill owner said, “We are getting logs in our mills due to more efficient logging equipment and new loggers coming into the business. We are running at 45 hours at each mill. It’s hard to sell Common Red Oak. Our industry goes from swing to swing from black ink to red ink overnight. We’ve seen a drop of 0 a thousand in lumber prices since last year, so we have to get the log prices down. We cannot continue to pay high log prices and get low lumber prices.” Please turn to page 45 JUNE 2015 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 43