National Hardwood Magazine - October 2020

WEST COAST Continued

WEST COAST Continued from page 9 The Washington lumber provider offers “about every North American Hardwood,” the spokesman observed. Included are Hard and Soft Maple, Birch, Alder, Poplar and Red and White Oak. Best sellers were Hard and Soft Maple and Poplar. Thicknesses were mostly 4/4. The company sells to distribution yards and end users. After a lag in sales volume, it seemed “like it’s OK,” the spokesman said. “It’s good.” He believes demand will pick up going forward. “There are so many homestarts in this area; everybody’s going to feel the increase in volume.” Trucks were harder to get, but container movement was good. “Flatbed trucks have been a little sketchy recently,” the lumber sales spokesman stated. A lumber provider in Oregon said his sales had been “soft.” “It’s worse” than it was six months ago, he said. “February was still good. This didn’t hit us until late March. Those first two months, we were ahead of the prior year.” He then assessed the business climate at the time of this interview. He said retailers were doing well, remodels were healthy, and new home sales were “blistering hot.” He emphasized, “Here’s the bigger thing: the hospitality industry. Our customers do work that goes into restaurants, hotels and travel. We have one customer that does airport related products. That is dead. “No one’s redoing restaurants right now. Most of them are closed. A 600-room convention hotel opened in December and closed shortly thereafter.” He said the kitchen cabinet business, remodeling and large builders are faring well. “But they’re under such pressure from the National Association of Home Builders to cut their prices. It’s not sustainable. It’s crazy. It’s a crazy time.” KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS nationalhardwoodmag.com 56 OCTOBER 2020 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE

The Oregon company this spokesman represents carries all domestic and imported species. Best-selling was White Oak and Poplar. Thicknesses ranged from 4/4 to 16/4. Primarily, they sell 4/4, 5/4 and 8/4. The company is known for a full range of thicknesses and grades, he said. This operation sells to industrial accounts also. “Clearly,” he observed, “the people selling to store fixture firms are experiencing slow business conditions. Sales to cabinet manufacturers are going along, but pressure is on pricing. Retailers are doing fairly well.” Asked if the availability of trucks was problematic, he said, “No, we have our own fleet. We have trucks at all our locations.” n ONTARIO Continued from page 10 areas noted contacts, but the concern was processing species less susceptible to staining. Log decks for Hard Maple were low, as was green lumber production. Some secondary manufacturers and wholesalers advised they had had an increase in demand for Hard Maple. As such, prices for this species rose slightly. Compared to a year ago, contacts had reported strong markets for most grades and thicknesses of Soft Maple. This year, it has changed. Upper grade demand is good, but markets for No. 1 Common and No. 2A are weak, stated contacts. Inventories for this species are being worked down, as supply is ample. Sawmillers and wholesalers stated they were shipping their supplies. Basswood supplies are improving for certain companies, with a small pickup in green Basswood production. Finding customers can be challenging, commented contacts, but there is not an overwhelming amount of Basswood in the market, although it is competitive with price pressure for No. 2B and Better in most thicknesses. According to areas contacted, markets for kiln-dried stocks are varied. Ash supplies improved somewhat over the summer as weather improved and log decks increased. This has resulted in green lumber output being slightly higher than earlier in the year, but demand is still weak. Sawmills are shipping developing supplies, but prices, they note, are down. Contacts also comment that kiln dried FAS Ash is selling better than the common grades. According to Statistics Canada’s report, released re- Please turn the page PREMIUM NORTHERN HARDWOODS from Wisconsin & Michigan . . . . available for export worldwide Contact Mike Schulke today! 715.535.2181 • mike@tigertonlumber.com www.tigertonlumber.com OCTOBER 2020 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 57