National Hardwood Magazine - October 2018

NORTHEAST Continued

NORTHEAST Continued coupled with the threat of tariffs from China, has really caused our customers to look harder at their own inventories and keep them leaner than the first half of the year,” he stated. “With the possibility of falling prices, there really is not any incentive to purchase ahead. This lack of speculation has curtailed our sales numbers for the upcoming month.” The dominant specie he handles is Hard Maple. “The common grades have been the strongest for several months and we don’t anticipate any change this year,” he commented. “Our challenges remain in moving some items in Yellow Birch and Soft Maple. Sometimes, purchasing of Yellow Birch is not very popular, and our location, coupled with high freight rates, hinders our ability to be price effective in the Soft Maple markets.” He said transportation “was a real challenge” in the first half of the year with the implementation of the new electronic logging device (ELD) mandate for truckers. “Availability became a real problem and rates rose significantly,” he compoint but no orders,” she stated. She said trucking is a concern for her. “That’s ongoing, and I don’t see it getting any better,” she commented. She said supply has been a bit constrained because of wet weather. “We have had a lot of rain, so we’re getting logs in but we have to switch species. Things are very wet; we get little reprieves, then we get gushers of rain,” she stated. WORLD LEADING manufacturer of scanning technologies. Making the Grade Since 1985 Grade Mark Reader The gold standard in GMRs affordable for mills of all sizes. M5-50: • Multiple graders • No trimmer operator • 23 characters • No bulb replacement • Updates via internet M5-100 Adds: • Connects to console or control system • Muliple instructions per board • Creates runs and shifts • Full set of trim and grade instructions M5-200 Adds: • Reads and reports symbol colors • Monitors individual grader performance • Compares graders’ decisions and accuracy • Indentifies your best potential mentors • Builds a solid workforce for added uplift Lucidyne Technologies Inc. | Corvallis, OR USA | 541 - 753 - 5111 | lucidyne.com Made in the USA Her customers include end users, distributors and brokers—“whoever we can make the price work with,” she said. A salesman at a New York wholesaler said the market was “very slow” in his area as well. He sells Red and White Oak, Hard Maple and Cherry in No. 1 Common, No. 2 Common and Face and Better in 4/4 through 12/4. “They are all selling about the same,” he stated. He said he’s not having problems with transportation and supply is good. “I can get all the lumber I need. This China issue has affected the industry; the worry over the tariffs means there’s too much lumber out there,” he commented. He markets his lumber to distribution yards and some end use manufacturers. At a Maine sawmill, a sales manager said the market has overall quieted down for him. “Our level of calls from Canada have started to wane; this slowdown, Call Lucidyne to find out more! 86 OCTOBER 2018 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 2017-12-NHLA.indd 1 12/7/2017 1:15:31 PM

mented. “As of late, this issue seems to have eased off a bit. We are finding more trucks available which has allowed us to negotiate the freight better.” Log supply is not a problem in his region, he said, adding his parent company owns and manages close to 1 million acres. His customer base is evenly split among wholesalers, distribution yards and secondary wood manufacturers. n SOUTHEAST Continued from page 19 just tanking,” he commented. “It’s almost as tough a situation as I’ve seen in a few years, because a lot of the Common Red Oak goes overseas. This situation with the tariffs has everybody up in the air. It’s all politics right now about exports and what affects us, and the domestic market can’t take up the slack. For some people, it’s really going to hit the fan.” Transportation is difficult, he said, because trucking companies and drivers have been unreliable. “They agree to pick up the load, and then they find a betin Tennessee, and we were able to get a truck with the snap of a finger, which was surprising. We do a lot of our own domestic trucking. We have a truck that ships out about a 200-mile to 250-mile radius, and he’s able to get a lot of lumber out for us. We do ship export, but I haven’t seen a lot of containers lately. I don’t think it’s been too challenging to get containers, but then, we haven’t had a lot to send overseas lately.” He said various issues are slowing up log supply, mostly the availability of loggers. “We’re not getting in as many logs as we need, whether it be our loggers are moving too frequently and can’t get to where we need them, or they’ve been on vacation.” His customers include flooring manufacturers and end users. He noted 60 percent of his customers are domestic, while the remaining 40 percent are customers who sell to the export market. In North Carolina, a sawmill sales manager said in general, business is decent. “Overall, the lumber business is good; I wouldn’t say it’s jumping up and down, but it’s pretty good,” he stated. He sells Red and White Oak, Maple, Poplar, Ash and Cypress. “White Oak is still very strong; Poplar in No. 1 Common and No. 2 Common is as strong as it can be. But Red Oak in Common grades, really Red Oak in general, is not doing well. It’s 125 REASONS WHY WE ARE 125 Investments in technology so that we can serve the customer of the future. We do what we say we are going to do. Famously high quality hardwood lumber from our yard in New Albany, Indiana. YEARS Over six centuries of cumulative industry experience. Curiosity for new things. Ipe decking at the Valetta Opera House in Malta. Tropical and American hardwoods on the same truck LUMBER COMPANY Please turn the page 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 GROWING TOGETHER SINCE 1893 WWW.ROBLUMCO.COM OCTOBER 2018 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 87