LAKE STATES Continued
LAKE STATES Continued from page 6 What are you up to now? Expanding your facilities, adding personnel or equipment, holding a meeting or convention? National Hardwood Magazine would like to know so we can publish your announcement. Send your news to: editor@ millerwoodtradepub.com representative observed. “Flooring is moving very fast. They’re moving really well,” he said. Transportation, he observed, was not a problem, “not at all.” A Michigan lumber sales representative stated that the market for their products had been “pretty good.” He recalled that the month prior to this interview, sales were “really good.” Half a year ago, “We were still doing good,” he reported. “We had a really good January and February. March was going along pretty well until it got flipped around.” March, he observed, was pretty similar to now. Hard and Soft Maple, Red and White Oak, Hickory, Walnut, Cherry and Basswood are the species of lumber this company handles. Of those, the best sellers were White Oak, Hickory and Hard Maple. Wood is sawn to 4/4 through 8/4, with some 10/4 and 12/4. Customers are evenly split between distribution yards and end users. Have they told this lumber sales representative how their businesses are doing? “Some companies, especially some overseas firms, are busy,” he said. None of his customers reported sales of their products to be bad or slow. For the Michigan lumber provider, transportation was fine. “Weather is pretty good for 50 OCTOBER 2020 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE
logging,” he added. “There are no major problems there.” Just to the south of Michigan, in Indiana, one lumber sales representative said his company’s business was “decent.” He added, “It seems like things have been looking better. I just don’t want to be too optimistic too early.” It seemed to him that business was better than it had been six months earlier. “We’ve got several species here,” he noted. “We like to pride ourselves on our diversity in product.” The company sells Ash, Basswood, Cherry, Hickory, Hard Maple, Red and White Oak, Poplar and Walnut. Walnut and White Oak are their best sellers, “what we try to focus on,” he said. This operation offers a wide range of thicknesses. “We try to have a diverse product line,” he noted. “We’re a good stop for distribution yards. We carry a lot of products and offer mixed truckloads.” This company also sells lumber to end users. The lumber sales spokesman said his company’s customers are “starting to see life” in regard to market demand. For some end users, he observed, demand for their products had gone up. “More people are staying at home, working on their houses versus taking vacations.” Transportation was not a problem for this company at the time of the interview. In Ohio, a lumber company spokesman said lumber sales were “fair, not strong, but they are fair. It’s probably softened a little bit since six months ago, mostly on the export side. Domestically, we’re probably a little stronger than we were then.” The Ohio lumber provider handles Red and White Oak, Poplar (“our main three”), Soft and Hard Maple, Cherry, Ash, Walnut and Hickory. Best-selling was White Oak. Mostly, this company saws lumber to 4/4 thickness. They sell to small end users and distributors. The end users tend to be local furniture shops. These furniture makers’ sales were “fair,” the lumber sales spokesman said. “They’re not booked out as far as they’d like, but they’re decent. Nobody’s getting overly excited, but they’re starting to see some uptick.” A problem for this Ohio lumber provider was finding employees. Trucking and container shipping were OK. n www.snowentities.com Northern KD Hardwoods • Aspen • Basswood • White Ash • Hard & Soft Maple • Red Oak • Birch • Cherry • Black Ash Export Packaging / Container Loading Phone: 715-561-2200 • Fax: 715-561-2040 Snowbelt Hardwoods, Inc. • 345 Ringle Dr., Hurley, WI 54534 Joe Francois Joe.Francois@snowbelthardwoods.com Brady Francois BFrancois@snowbelthardwoods.com John Hilgemann JHilgemann@snowbelthardwoods.com Tyler Francois Tyler@snowbelthardwoods.com OCTOBER 2020 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 51
