National Hardwood Magazine - June 2020

U.S.A. TRENDS Supplier

U.S.A. TRENDS Supplier news about sales, labor, prices, trends, expansions and inventories LAKE STATES NORTHEAST The Hardwood market would best be described as erratic in the Lakes States, according to lumber sources. The market was deemed “a little crazy,” by a sawmill contact in Michigan, who added, “Most everybody is still running, but a lot of them are taking a little breather. Some of our big crate customers are taking a week off. One commented that he had a bunch of lumber to get on sticks and he said, ‘Man, if they shut us down tomorrow, I’ll have million go bad in my yard.’ ” Hard and Soft Maple all white (No. 2 and Better) in 4/4 thickness are in the greatest demand among the contact’s customers, who are primarily concentration yards and some end users. His business also sells Red Oak, Aspen and Basswood. “Orders were great last week, then they had a big hiccup this week,” the contact said. “It’s been slow the last couple of days.” Yet the Hardwood market is definitely stronger than it was six months earlier, he said. “Things were really looking up coming into spring. Right now, everybody’s on the sidelines, wait and see.” In Wisconsin, another sawmill contact said his market was challenging. “A lot of my customers have had their orders cancelled. Their customers aren’t receiving the products because of uncertainty due to the coronavirus.” His customers are manufacturers of moulding, millwork, pallets, railroad ties, and components. “I talked to a flooring guy this morning who was supposed to have some finished lumber going to the East Coast and it’s not going now,” he added. “Exports are pretty good, though,” the source commented. “They’re afraid that the ports of the United States are going to close so they’re wanting to get some orders shipped before that happens.” Soft Maple (Select and Better) and Red Oak (No. 1 Common) in 4/4 thickness are the top sellers for his company, which also offers Ash, Basswood, Hard Maple, Cherry and White Oak. “With this craziness going on, the market is starting to Uncertainty seems to permeate the Hardwood market in the Northeast, where lumber sources reported some challenges in obtaining orders at the time of this writing. In Maine, a sawmill source was downcast about the market. “Orders are hard to get and the orders you do get— maybe you’re able to ship and maybe you’re not. Most of the states have deemed the lumber industry essential, but even with that said, the owners and CEOs of different companies basically day-to-day decide whether they’re going to be open or not. The supply is abundant because the market is very unpredictable due to people being open one day and closed the next.” Soft Maple in all grades and 4/4 thickness continues to be his best moving species. His business also sells Hard Maple, Ash, Red Oak and Yellow Birch. Customers are end users and distribution yards, who the source described as struggling. “Their orders are down. They don’t really know what is going on,” he commented. This is the time of the year when his company usually would be buying all of the logs that it can get going into “the mud season,” but not this year, the source said. “We’ve slowed the log procurement just because we don’t want to oversupply what little market we have,” he explained. In Pennsylvania, another sawmill source said the Hardwood market was challenging given the coronavirus pandemic. “We’ve been managing our business hour-to-hour, day-to-day and week-to-week with everything subject to change,” he commented. “Domestic customers are bringing in product and working at normal paces, and our export business has been going OK as well. “The unfortunate thing is we’re unsure how to forecast where we’re going with all this. I think on the outside in, we should be in good shape. But again we don’t know how this whole thing related to the stimulus package that the government’s putting out is going to play. Are people going to access their money, go out and purchase more goods? We don’t know. Strange times right now. It seems like the Please turn to page 37 Please turn to page 39 6 JUNE 2020 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE

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