Markets have been active, and there has been some good movement this spring which has been beneficial for our clients across our operating areas in the Appalachian region of the US. As long as opportunities continue to present themselves, our hope is to bring you more frequent timber market updates as situations allow during the course of the year.
Though still a long way from where it was back in the mid 2000’s, the housing market is experiencing a slow but steady recovery, creating steady demand for hardwood lumber from our region for flooring, furniture and cabinets. Export markets continue to be steady, with China and other Asian markets, as well as European and Latin American markets, up year-to-date as compared to last year (Hardwood Weekly Review). Chinese market demand remains consistent and is expected to be so for some time to come – China “has become the largest customer of U.S. graded hardwood lumber” in the world, and their purchase of raw logs have steadily increased as well (HWR, April 7, 2017).
Continuing demand and spotty wet weather conditions have decreased available supply in some areas, driving pricing up in some places for some species. We continue to see some species pricing fluctuations, but all-in-all, stumpage prices have remined very solid across the board for quality sawtimber going into the late spring.
Ash lumber has seen a leveling off in lumber pricing since the last Woodland News report, but stumpage prices remain strong despite the continued harvesting of ash to stay ahead of the Emerald Ash Borer. China remains a very strong customer for kiln dried ash lumber. Hard maple lumber demand is continuing to see a slight increase in pricing as demand sees a slight increase to stay ahead of the summer months where this species usually experiences a “staining” problem. Soft maple pricing has dipped slightly as production (supply) has increased a little over the last few months, especially in the upper grade material. Red oak demand has leveled off and pricing has steadied, as kiln dried material is especially of interest in the market currently. And though green, common 4/4 black cherry lumber has remained steady at a new recent high over the last month or so, higher grade cherry has continued to increase significantly in price weekly, and Chinese demand continues to drive the pricing significantly, and perhaps just as importantly is the news that there is improvement in North American demand as well (Hardwood Market Report).
General market comments/trends in the Appalachian Hardwoods region:
Black cherry: international (Chinese, other) demand increasing; domestic demand continuing to improve; stumpage prices increasing as lumber demand increases; lumber prices + 10.9% (since Jan 1st 2017)
Hard (sugar) maple: slight decrease then steadying of both export and domestic demand; stumpage prices steady; lumber prices –1.2% (since Jan 1st 2017)
Red oak; export and domestic demand slightly increasing since the beginning of 2017, currently steady; stumpage prices steady; lumber prices +0.6% (since Jan 1st 2017)
White ash; export and domestic demand remains robust, and Chinese demand remains very strong; stumpage prices steady at high levels; lumber prices +11.3% (since Jan 1st 2017)
Soft maple; demand tailed off slightly in mid-Feb, then steady since; stumpage prices decreasing slightly; lumber prices -3.4% (since Jan 1st 2017)
Perspective and % Changes are measured using data from January 6, 2017 to May 12, 2017