Lumber takes a breath

The markets finally took a breather last week. SPF dimension and OSB were quiet most of the week, while SYP dimension still had some steam. Most Spruce mills rested on their order files, while wholesalers and brokers sold most of the available wood at a slight discount. The mills are counting on strong demand to continue and the need for traders to come back to the market by the end of this week.

Southern pine continues to move forward on log supply issues and low field inventory. 2x4 #2 and 2x10 #1 are the strongest items.

OSB prices leveled off last week with gains only in the North Central region. All other regions were flat for the week. Order files are still out a ways and prices remain firm.

There are two camps out there with opinions about where these markets are headed. One thinks we will get a pullback due to seasonality and the other says this is only a temporary pause and it’s headed higher on strong demand. Only time will tell. Like I said before, don’t count on seeing prices like we saw in past two years. We will continue to see higher highs, and higher lows during the housing recovery due to lack of production.