The conflict involving Iran is beginning to weigh directly on global lumber markets, with Canfor
\nwarning that petroleum-related supply chain disruption and rising construction costs could weaken North American demand during the second quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n
The Vancouver-based producer reported an operating loss of CAD 72.5 million and a net loss attributable to shareholders of CAD 72.1 million for the first quarter, despite an improvement from the previous quarter as tighter supply pushed benchmark lumber prices higher.<\/p>\n
The company said geopolitical tensions linked to Iran are now affecting purchasing behaviour, freight costs and housing construction activity, particularly in the United States. The impact comes at a time when the North American lumber sector is already dealing with weak housing demand, elevated duties on Canadian lumber shipments and fragile global trade flows.<\/p>\n
Canfor\u2019s lumber segment posted a CAD 43.7 million operating loss during the quarter, while pulp and paper operations recorded a CAD 16.2 million operating loss.<\/p>\n
President and CEO Susan Yurkovich said the first quarter continued to reflect difficult conditions across global markets, although tighter supply and weather-related production disruptions in British Columbia and the US South helped support benchmark prices.<\/p>\n
Western SPF 2x4 #2&Btr prices averaged USD 463 per thousand board feet in the quarter, up 10% from Q4 2025. SYP East 2x4 #2 averaged USD 495\/mbf, rising 35% quarter-on-quarter. However, the stronger Canadian dollar and weaker offshore realizations limited the improvement in Canfor\u2019s selling prices.<\/p>\n
Total lumber shipments fell 6% from the previous quarter to 1.26 billion board feet. Europe recorded the sharpest decline, down 9% due to cold-weather production disruptions, while North American shipments dropped 4% because of rail supply constraints in British Columbia and weather impacts in the US South.<\/p>\n
Production increased slightly, rising 2% to 1.21 billion board feet as mills restored operating hours following the seasonal downtime seen at the end of 2025.<\/p>\n
The company pointed to continued weakness in China\u2019s housing sector as another major drag on global lumber demand. Official Chinese data showed real estate investment fell 11% year-on-year during January and February 2026, while sales of newly built commercial housing dropped roughly 14%.<\/p>\n
Japan also remained softer due to higher import volumes from Europe and Canada and an ongoing shift toward domestic wood consumption.<\/p>\n
In Europe, Canfor described demand as weak, although spruce prices improved late in the quarter after industry curtailments reduced supply. Pine markets remain under pressure because of elevated inventories, especially in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
Higher freight costs linked to the Iran conflict are also affecting Canfor\u2019s Swedish sawmilling subsidiary Vida, where logistics and petroleum-related expenses have increased since late February.<\/p>\n
The company said global softwood kraft pulp markets also remain difficult despite some improvement during the quarter. Average NBSK list prices to China rose 2% quarter-on-quarter to USD 685 per tonne, while producer inventories reached 47 days of supply by the end of February.<\/p>\n
Canfor expects conditions in pulp and paper to remain difficult during the second quarter and has scheduled maintenance outages that will remove around 25,000 tonnes of pulp and paper production capacity.<\/p>\n
For lumber, the company expects North American markets to weaken later in the second quarter as supply responds to recent price increases while demand remains constrained by macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical risks.<\/p>\n
Canfor added that petroleum-related supply chain disruption linked to the Iran conflict could continue to affect new housing construction and increase volatility across lumber markets during the coming months.<\/p>\n
At March 31, 2026, the company reported CAD 60.2 million in cash and cash equivalents, CAD 440.8 million drawn on operating facilities and CAD 906.5 million in available undrawn operating loan facilities.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4713,5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-companies-in-the-timber-industry","category-daily-news","topic-forestry","topic-lumber","topic-sawmilling","topic-wood-products","area-europe","area-global","area-north-america"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n