National Hardwood Magazine - September 2016

TRADE TALK Continued

TRADE TALK Continued MANUFACTURER OF QUALITY BAND SAWN NORTHERN APPALACHIAN HARDWOODS RED OAK WHITE OAK CHERRY SOFT MAPLE POPLAR WHITE ASH HARD MAPLE WALNUT 500,000 B.F. Dry Kiln Capacity 2 Million B.F. Dry Storage Container Loading Mixed TL’s S2S, Ripped to Width, Cut-Length & Finger-Joint Lumber Measured & Inspected after Kiln Drying 2240 Shermans Valley Road, Elliottsburg, PA 17024 Phone: 717-582-4122 Fax: 717-582-7438 Toll Free: 1-800-253-0263 E-mail: sales@tuscarorahardwoods.com Website: tuscarorahardwoods.com Our Mission is to provide product knowledge, professional service, and insurance solutions for the forest products industry. Insurance for the forest products industry 708 Milam Street, Suite 300 Shreveport, LA 71101-5499 (318) 221-0547 FAX (318) 424-7516 www.keithdpeterson.com inventory investment and shows real-time visibility into demand and production, according to a statement published by the company. For more information, visit www.epicor.com. ST. LOUIS, MO– The National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) recently announced its 2016 Board of Directors at its Wood Flooring Expo in Charlotte, NC. The NWFA’s Board of Directors is the governing body of the NWFA and is responsible for its management and operations. The Board consists of officers and directors, each of whom is voted into Tommy Maxwell office by the NWFA membership. Ex-Officio Directors are appointed to serve one-year terms. The NWFA 2016 Board of Directors is led by Tommy Maxwell of Maxwell Hardwood Flooring, located in Monticello, AR. The National Wood Flooring Association is a not-for-profit trade organization, with more than 3,100 member companies world-wide, dedicated to educating consumers, architects, designers, specifiers and builders in the uses and benefits of wood flooring. For more information, visit www.nwfa.org. ALEXANDRIA, VA–The National Wooden Pallet and Container Association (NWPCA) recently announced the hire of Mark Barford to the position of senior director, business partnerships. Barford recently retired as executive director of the National Hardwood Lumber Association after a 40-year career. Mark Barford “I’m excited to join NWPCA and help contribute to the association’s growth and impact,” Barford commented. “I’m confident my experience and relationships throughout the U.S. and global forest products community will support NWPCA’s strategic initiatives already underway.” NWPCA is the largest organization of wood packaging professionals in the world, with more than 670 company members in 28 countries. For more information, visit www.palletcentral.com. 58 SEPTEMBER 2016 NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE

NORTHEAST Continued from page 53 from China and I expect that will continue.” Transportation issues are infrequent for this contact, with good availability of freight. Red and White Oak and Cherry are this source’s most prevalent species and he stated that they were all selling well, with Oak proving slightly more popular than Cherry. With inventory levels at 110 percent of capacity, the source said the overstocking was an intentional move in preparation for markets returning to normal activity in the fall. “We like to be on the high side with the autumn months approaching and sales starting to come back. Our main customer is distribution yards across the U.S., Canada and Asia, with a few end-use manufacturers mixed in as well. They’re all buying so I guess they have been staying busy.” WEST COAST Continued from page 6 matic and other than that I haven’t really seen many blips on the radar in recent weeks.” His operation has experienced strong demand in Hard and Soft Maple, White Oak and Poplar, with the high grades moving well. “Also, the lack of demand we saw for lower grade material earlier in the year has dissipated somewhat. We have good relationships with our customers who deal in the lower grades so we’re able to keep those items from stacking up too much.” Inventory levels for this supplier were slightly high, but not to a worrying level. “We are aware of a bit of overstocking, but the market always absorbs it once the fall season arrives. We also have customers in the flooring and millwork business that have been putting in more orders as their own mills come back from summer break at full production capacity.” From a sawmill representative in Oregon comments were positive. “Nothing appears to be sluggish, at least not from where I sit. It’s all moving along as rapidly as we could expect. We were concerned with Red Oak early in the year, but all grades have come back to normal levels.” The contact stated that comments from his sources in the Hardwood industry were in line with his own opinion that the market was fairly even across the board. “It’s hard to come up with anything interesting to say because it’s just sort of unexciting. It’s not dramatically tilted in any direction. Sure there will be issues that come up with getting a steady supply of this or that species, but overall it’s a nice, predictable business right now. And I’m not going to complain about it.” In closing the source said that log inventories have been well controlled as a part of his operation’s standard procedure to maintain low raw material volumes. “We don’t water our logs, so we try to keep our yards at a certain level because of spoilage. Our team is doing a great job of that. And Please turn the page High Quality Hardwood Lumber 4/4 - 8/4 Thicknesses Ash / Yellow Birch / Hard Maple / Northern Red Oak Walnut / Basswood / Birch / White Oak / Cherry Installations: Contact: (819) 552-9020 Philippe LeBlanc – President, Sales Manager (418) 624-0038 pleblanc@rlumber.ca Lumber Resources Inc. 1170 Boul. Lebourgneuf Suite 301 Quebec, QC G2K 2E3 grades in truck load or container load quantities only. ATT: PALLET - STAKE - INDUSTRIAL MFRS! Truckload lots available, quoted F.O.B. your yard. (866) 629-9089 SEPTEMBER 2016 NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 59