{"id":99152,"date":"2026-06-29T07:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T07:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.timberindustrynews.com\/?p=99152"},"modified":"2026-06-29T10:29:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T10:29:29","slug":"us-sawmill-capacity-continues-to-shrink-despite-push-to-replace-canadian-lumber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.timberindustrynews.com\/ro\/us-sawmill-capacity-continues-to-shrink-despite-push-to-replace-canadian-lumber\/","title":{"rendered":"US sawmill capacity continues to shrink despite push to replace Canadian lumber"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States continues to lose sawmill capacity despite political efforts to reduce dependence on Canadian softwood lumber, with first-quarter data showing production slipping again even as lumber prices recovered modestly.<\/p>\n

The figures underscore a structural challenge facing the U.S. forest products sector. While Washington has continued to pursue higher duties on Canadian softwood lumber and has repeatedly called for greater domestic production, the country's manufacturing base has been contracting rather than expanding.<\/p>\n

According to the latest Federal Reserve Industrial Production report, U.S. sawmill output declined in the first quarter of 2026, marking the second consecutive quarterly decrease. Production has remained largely unchanged since 2023 following the post-pandemic surge.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The industry's utilization rate edged higher to 71.8%, up from 71.2% in the fourth quarter of 2025. However, the increase reflected lower available production capacity rather than stronger output.<\/p>\n

Based on a four-quarter moving average, sawmill production fell 0.4% from the previous quarter, although it remained 1.7% above the same period a year earlier.<\/p>\n

More significantly, estimated full production capacity declined 6.0% year-on-year, indicating that the U.S. industry is capable of producing less lumber than it was a year ago as mills close or permanently reduce capacity.<\/p>\n

The trend comes as the United States continues its long-running softwood lumber dispute with Canada. The U.S. administration has argued that higher import duties would encourage domestic investment and reduce reliance on Canadian lumber. However, the latest production figures suggest domestic supply has not expanded enough to replace imported volumes.]<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, shrinking capacity could make the U.S. market increasingly dependent on imports at a time when duties on most Canadian producers remain elevated and supply chains continue to adjust.<\/p>\n

Lumber prices posted a modest recovery during the quarter. Softwood lumber prices increased 6.1% from the previous quarter but remained 3.8% below year-earlier levels. Hardwood lumber prices continued their upward trend, rising 1.0% in the first quarter and extending a streak of nine consecutive quarterly increases.<\/p>\n

Employment also continued to weaken. The sawmill and wood preservation sector employed approximately 82,800 workers during the first quarter, marking the twelfth consecutive quarterly decline and the lowest employment level since 2010.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States continues to lose sawmill capacity despite political efforts to reduce dependence on Canadian softwood lumber, with first-quarter data showing production slipping again even as lumber prices recovered modestly.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99153,"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-99152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUS sawmill capacity continues to shrink despite push to replace Canadian lumber - Timber Industry News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.timberindustrynews.com\/ro\/us-sawmill-capacity-continues-to-shrink-despite-push-to-replace-canadian-lumber\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ro_RO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US sawmill capacity continues to shrink despite push to replace Canadian lumber - 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