Softwood lumber trading remained subdued through late April and early May as buyers across North America continued purchasing only immediate requirements.<\/p>\n
Few distributors showed interest in rebuilding inventories. Most preferred to stay light on stock rather than risk carrying higher-cost material in a market still lacking momentum. Delivered prices remained under pressure from rising trucking, rail and fuel costs even while several benchmark lumber prices moved only marginally.<\/p>\n
Western SPF 2x4 #2&Btr KD prices held around US$490\/mfbm in the week ending May 1, unchanged from the previous week and up roughly 7% from the same period last year.<\/p>\n
Southern Yellow Pine markets weakened further. Eastern SYP 2x4 #2&Btr KD prices fell to approximately US$505\/mfbm, down US$30 from the previous week and more than 10% below levels seen one month earlier.<\/p>\n
The overall lumber price index stood near US$524\/mfbm at the start of May, down about 5% from April levels.<\/p>\n
Transportation problems continued to disrupt business across both the US and Canada. Delayed trucks, railcar shortages and longer delivery times increasingly shaped negotiations between mills and customers. In many cases, buyers spent more time tracking shipments than placing new orders.<\/p>\n
In the US market, Western SPF supply remained relatively tight despite muted buying activity. Purchasing continued almost entirely on a hand-to-mouth basis.<\/p>\n
Canadian demand improved slightly from the weak pace seen at the beginning of April, though trading volumes remained below what the industry normally expects for this time of year. Price spreads between mill offers and transaction levels widened further as buyers resisted higher asking prices.<\/p>\n
Southern Yellow Pine continued to struggle with inconsistent availability and weak freight conditions, while delayed deliveries became increasingly common across several regions.<\/p>\n
The wildfire season also arrived early in western Canada after the spring thaw. British Columbia introduced fire restrictions at the end of April. Most sawmills entered the season with comfortable log inventories after active winter harvesting.<\/p>\n
For now, producers appear capable of increasing output if demand improves later in the year. But as long as orders remain thin and transportation costs keep climbing, mills are likely to continue balancing production carefully through downtime and curtailments.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n