Soft wood prices in Canada

[MP Wall]

Hi All,
I have a friend in South Africa that I was chatting to today. It seems that he bought some property in S. A. that is a soft wood farm and was wondering what soft wood prices were bringing in Canada on a m3 basis. I don't know if you guys can help me or steer me in the right direction.  Thanks,  MP Wall

[sawguy21]

Brutal. Mills are closing because the costs of production outweigh prices.

[Kevin]

You can find some pricing here ...

http://www.forestrysyndicate.com/prices.php

[Danny Dimm]

I heard it was about 190 a thousand for 2x4. A friend of mine was grading at a big mill a few hours from where I live. In small wood they were pumping out 600,000 bft in one ten hour shift. And it's not a huge mill!

[Brucer]

Logs or lumber?

Depending on species and quality, I can buy logs for anywhere between $45 and $140 per cubic metre. At least in theory. In fact, the loggers will stay out of the woods rather than sell their logs for $45 / cubic metre.

Naturally my customer wants Douglas-Fir timbers, and I've convinced him that grade 1 logs are the best way to go -- faster production for me, less waste for him to deal with. I can't get anyone to haul them out of the bush for less than $140 :(.

S-P-F 2x6 lumber is selling for $470 / 1000 BF in the lumber yards. 1x6 is selling for $1000 / 1000 BF ??? That's because the 2x6 comes out of a stud mill and the 1x6 comes out of a regular sawmill. Those prices in metric would be  $199 and $424 per cubic metre respectively.

[Tim]

I would suggest that your friend buy one of the mothballed mills, ship it to South Africa and sell the manufactured lumber into Saudi Arabia, Israel or Egypt than to ship it to Canada. The Chinese are usually looking for a mess of the stuff at any given time as well. Just tell him to protect himself to make sure he gets paid... Lumber is moving so well in this part of Canada, that I am thankful I made a change into shingles when I did.