12/27/2007
No Recovery for Canadian Producers seen until 2009.
The Toronto Star reports this morning that a range of industry figures and analysts expect no improvement in the canadian wood products sector until 2009. Analysts noted in particular the expansion in production capacity that was brought online to deal with increased demand from the recent housing boom, predicting further mill closures and bankruptcies before demand begins to recover.
12/12/2007
Pope Resources Plans to Reduce Harvest.
Reuters reports this morning that Pope Resources projects a 33 percent reduction in harvest in 2008, primarily in response to reduced demand for solid wood products.
12/10/2007
Storm Damage Expected to Create a Pulse of Additional Logs from Oregon Coastal Forests.
The Capitol Press quotes Tom Savage of the Oregon Department of Forestry, who observes that storm damage may be greater than that of last years storms, which generated 20 million board feet off the Clatsop State Forest alone. Local small woodland owners estimate damage to up to 10 percent of stems in any given stand, suggesting that both long term plans and ongoing thinning projects will need to be reevaluated.
12/05/2007
BC Loses 1800 Forest and Wood Product Jobs in
One Month
The Vancouver Sun highlighted recent mill closures by Canfor at Chetwynd and Weyerhaeuser at Okanagan Falls as well as a shift reduction at Tolko's Soda Creek mill in continuing coverage of rightsizing by Canadian producers to meet reduced US demand. While noting the cyclical nature of the downturn in the US housing market, Canadian producers also noted structural issues, with the Forest Products Association of Canada meeting with the Standing Committee on Industry in the House of Commons to seek federal assistance.
12/03/2007
Decline in Lumber Production Fails to Stabilize Prices in Q3/Q4.
In a report titled Paper and Forest Products: Fall 2007 Not Quite As Expected, Fitch Ratings observed a decline in lumber production throughout the third quarter, due in part to strikes at BC logging and milling firms, as well as the strengthening Canadian dollar and lower yields from mountain pine beetle cut timber. This reduction in production has been compounded by additional reductions in operations and closures reported by 52 US and 41 Canadian Mills. These declines have however failed to stabilize lumber prices, now averaging $30/mbft less than the third quarter. Further shift reductions are believed to be unlikely in the immediate future, in part due to the relative competitive advantage offered both by the relatively weak US dollar and the export tax on Canadian wood shipped to the US.
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