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<\/p>\nA pall in North America\u2019s housing market is slashing demand for lumber and threatening to shut down sawmills in one of the continent\u2019s biggest timber producing regions.<\/p>\n
Lumber futures fell 4% to $433 per 1,000 board feet as of 2:46 p.m. in Chicago, extending a slump to about 62% this year. The price is so cheap that it may result in sawmill closures in the heavily forested western Canadian province of British Columbia as producers try to reduce supplies, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Paul Quinn.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are below the bottom, so B.C. producers are losing money,\u201d Quinn said in an email. \u201cI suspect we will get a number of sawmill closures over the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move is a stark reversal from the all-time highs set in 2021 during a pandemic-fueled homebuilding boom and comes as this year\u2019s surge in borrowing costs has made homes too pricey for buyers. The Federal Reserve\u2019s rate\u00a0hike\u00a0this week added to the gloom and Chair Jerome Powell said the housing market was \u2018very overheated\u2019 during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Canadian producers\u00a0West Fraser Timber Co.\u00a0and Canfor Corp. already announced\u00a0reductions\u00a0in output at B.C. sawmills this year. US homebuilders get more than a quarter of their lumber from Canada.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"