With few mill acquisitions, almost all of the production gains arose from improvements at existing mills. Of the top 40 companies, 8 in Canada and 6 in the U.S. recorded production declines - not the trend you'd expect during a time of near-record-high to record-high lumber prices.  Total Canadian softwood lumber shipments declined by 1.7% to 28.0 billion bf while U.S. production increased by 3.7% to 33.9 billion bf.  The top 10 Canadian producers have seen their shipments grow at a slightly slower pace than the overall ...