National Hardwood Magazine - September 2020

When it comes to

When it comes to Hardwood or Southern Yellow Pine Lumber, Eastern Lumber Corporation gives you competitive prices, and we stand tall on service. For you at Eastern Lumber we offer: • A Southern Yellow Pine concentration yard in Orangeburg, S.C. • Green and air dried Appalachian, Northern and Southern Hardwoods; and green, air dried and kiln dried Southern Pine. • Export packaging & container loading. • Experienced personnel. Eastern Lumber Corporation Headquarters: 338 St. Paul St. N.E. Orangeburg, S.C. 29116 Tel: (803) 531-1887 FAX: (803) 533-0195 Sales: Russell and Leonard Blanchard Ad Template_Layout 1 8/12/13 4:11 and PM Jim Page Shepherd 1 You’ll like doing business with us because we follow through on your orders and we do what we say we’ll do! EASTERN LUMBER 2017.indd 1 Front row, left to right: Marijo Wood, Sales Manager; Matt Hoover, Assistant Procurement Manager; Back row, left to right: Chris Hoover, Production Manager; Eric Hoover, Pallet, Cut-up Operations; Mike Hoover, Procurement Manager. At Neff you get what you want! Quality Lumber • Shipped On Time Neff is a 5th generation family-owned and operated Hardwood band mill facility with dehumidification dry kilns and has been in business since the 1920’s. We specialize in high grade Appalachian Hardwood lumber and Red Oak and White Oak strips that are prepared exactly to customers’ specifications. We also have a pallet & cut up operation, making grade, tree & surveyor’s stakes. For all your Appalachian Hardwood needs (for which there is no substitute) please contact Marijo Wood, sales manager. Neff Lumber Mills, Inc. P.O. Box 457 Broadway, VA 22815 Phone: (540) 896-7031 FAX: (540) 896-7034 E-mail: neflum@aol.com 6/20/17 2:24 PM QUEBEC Continued in show wood applications, and being used as a painted surface for furniture, mouldings and millwork and cabinets, and other finished products. Birch is also cheaper than Hard and Soft Maple. Demand for this and other species has been affected by the lower consumer activity both here and in the U.S. There were ample supplies of Birch over the last winter and spring so there are ample stocks of this species now. Green lumber production declined since spring, and so sawmills and wholesalers are shipping total production of this species. Demand for the higher grades of Red Oak is outpacing that of lower grades. With the housing sector improving, demand for Red Oak flooring has also improved. Sales competition for green Nos. 2A and 3A is still. Demand has improved for kiln-dried No. 2A and Better. Some contacts noted that exports to Vietnam ticked up and are helping to drive business for the common grades. According to a survey released recently by Statistics Canada, the Canadian employment picture improved mid-summer, with employers planning to keep staff and even hire following the spread of COVID-19. This bright spot is clouded by uncertainty about how successfully the economy will run through the fall and whether caution and possible missteps will hamper the success of businesses that reopen, states the survey. Nearly two-thirds of businesses said they expect to keep the number of employees the same over the next three months, while 15 percent expect to increase their hiring. 23.9 percent of those in the manufacturing sectors expect to bring in additional workers. At the same time, only 8.6 percent of employers expect to reduce workforces over the next three months. It was noted that many of the firms surveyed also warned of layoffs within six months if their operations don’t improve, signalling “a slower pace of rehiring down the road.” About one-fifth of businesses reported that current revenue and expenditure levels would not be sustainable for the next six months, causing them to consider “further staffing actions, closure or bankruptcy.” The Statistics Canada survey revealed that nearly two-thirds of businesses were approved for funding from government programs or credit from other providers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Slightly more than 43 percent of businesses reported that they had applied for and were approved for the Canada Emergency Business Account, which provides qualifying businesses with a loan of up to ,000. Meanwhile, 22.6 percent of businesses were approved for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, which pro- 70 SEPTEMBER 2020 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE

Tuscarora May 2019 rev.pdf 1 5/16/19 3:37 PM vides a subsidy to support businesses in paying wages. Of those, more than half said the subsidy allowed them to hire back 30 percent or more of their workforce. Almost a quarter said they could hire back their entire workforce. Nearly a quarter of businesses that make rent or mortgage payments had those payments deferred, according to Statistics Canada, while 5.7 percent of businesses had their request to defer payments rejected. On the housing front, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced the trend in housing starts was 199,655 units in June 2020, the most recent data available at press time, up from 197,063 units in May 2020. This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 211,681 units in June—an increase of 8.3 percent from 195,453 units in May. The SAAR of urban starts increased by 8.7 percent in June to 196,675 units. Multiple urban starts increased by 13 percent to 154,602 units in June while single-detached urban starts decreased by 4.5 percent to 42,073 units. Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15,006 units. This is good news for the Hardwood sector as businesses slowly return to work following the pandemic. n 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 2240 Shermans Valley Road, Elliottsburg, PA 17024 Phone: 717-582-4122 Fax: 717-582-7438 Jason Twigg: (Cell) 717-514-2224 Toll Free: 1-800-253-0263 E-mail: sales@tuscarorahardwoods.com Website: tuscarorahardwoods.com Mixed TL’s S2S, Ripped to Width, Cut-Length & Finger-Joint Lumber Measured & Inspected after Kiln Drying JOSEY (JOCO) 2018 Christmas REV .qxp_Layout 1 11/19/18 2:42 PM Page 1 JoCo Lumber, Inc. is a division of Josey Lumber Company, Inc. Tripp, Logan, and Joey Josey Our company offers: • 10,000,000 BF of annual production from our 6’ band headrig and 6’ band resaw. • Red and White Oak, Soft Maple, Ash, Poplar and Cypress in 4/4 through 8/4 thickness. • rough, surfaced, air-dried and kiln-dried lumber in random widths and lengths. • export prepping, container loading of logs and lumber, anti-stain dipping and end coating lumber. • 500,000 BF of dry kiln capacity. • 65,000 SF of enclosed warehouse for storage and loading of kiln-dried lumber. For Quality Appalachian Lumber Contact: JOsey Lumber COmpany, InC. JoCo Lumber, InC. 476 Lees meadow rd. • p.O. Drawer 447 scotland neck, nC 27874 TeL: (252) 826-5614 • FaX: (252) 826-3461 COnTaCT: emaIL: joseylbr3@gmail.com saLes: Logan Josey SEPTEMBER 2020 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 71