Western Pallet Magazine August 2018 | Page 16

16 WESTERN PALLET

New on Video

Wood-Mizer Mexico Dealer: MAHEXA Forestal

SPORTSNET

Recommended for you

6:13

Go Fast Manufacturing Go-Around Grade System

Go Fast Manufacturing

1.4K views

5:00

Monari Pallets s.r.l.

monarionline

321K views

Vancouver Canucks: Taking The Next Step (Player Deployment - Goldobin, Leipsic, Gaudette, Virtanen)

legorocks99Gaming

Recommended for you

New

resawing logs on a hammer bandsaw

Timothy Wilmots

83K views

Pallet making easy

sebastian Measure

93K views

Brock Boeser All Goals of 2017-2018 Season

Delta Highlights

Recommended for you

Go Fast Manufacturing Slab/Firewood Trimsaw FWT-20

Go Fast Manufacturing

5K views

Jigs for Resawing on the Bandsaw

Popular Woodworking

34K views

LIVE: Most Amazing Moments Of Wild Animal Fights | Animal Planet Documentary 2018

Wildlife CN

3.9K watching

LIVE NOW

Go Fast Manufacturing Resaws

Go Fast Manufacturing

1.8K views

Go Fast Manufacturing - Ripping Pallets on a Bandsaw Test

Sawmills in the United States produced 14.752 billion board feet (bbf) of softwood lumber in the first five months of 2018, a +5.9% increase from output of 13.937 bbf in the same period last year, said the latest Western Wood Products Association Lumber Track report.

Western US sawmills accounted for 6.180 bbf to the five-month total, up +8.9% from 5.677 bbf a year earlier, while output at southern U.S. sawmills was up +3.6% to 7.876 bbf from 7.600 bbf.

In May alone, production by US sawmills was 3.173 bbf, up +7.3% year-over-year from 2.957 bbf, and up +5.3% from 3.014 bbf in April 2018.

Western US sawmills contributed 1.281 bbf to May’s production volume, up +4.9% from 1.222 bbf in the previous year, and up +3.7% from 1.236 bbf in the month before.

Southern US sawmills produced 1.742 bbf towards the monthly total, a +9.2% year-over-year gain from 1.595 bbf, and up +6.5% from 1.636 bbf in April 2018.

Apparent US softwood lumber consumption was 20.125 bbf in the first five months, an increase of +1.1% from 19.909 bbf in the same period last year. In May, consumption was 4.444 bbf, up +8.4% from 4.100 bbf in May 2017, and +6.5% higher than consumption in April 2018 of 4.173 bbf.

US Softwood Lumber Production Up Almost 6% from Last Year

Record Profits for Lumber Companies in North America and Europe in 2018

Sawlog costs, the largest cost component when manufacturing lumber, have gone up much more slowly than lumber prices in many countries during the past year, resulting in substantial increases in earnings for the international lumber industry, according to the WRQ

Lumber prices in the US have experienced a spectacular surge in 2017 and the first half of 2018. By the end of the 2Q/18, the benchmark lumber price index reported by the market report Random Lengths reached its highest level in at least 30 years. From January 2017 to June 2018, average prices for commonly traded lumber in the US increased by 40%. During the same period, sawlog prices were practically unchanged in the US South and rose about 28% in Western US, resulting in higher gross margins in 2018 for sawmills in both regions. Similar developments have occurred in Canada, leading to record high profitability for many of the country's sawmills thanks to the high lumber prices in the US.

Wood costs are by far the largest and most important cost component when manufacturing softwood lumber and are often the factor that determines a lumber company's competitive-ness. The Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ) has tracked quarterly sawlog prices worldwide since 1995. This publication also discusses quarterly sawmill gross margins for key lumber-producing regions around the world. In its latest issue, quarterly sawlog costs, lumber prices and gross margins for sawmills in eight key regions worldwide are reported for the period 1Q/05 to 2Q/18. The gross margin is defined as the net wood costs (sawlog costs minus the income from