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Log prices...

Started by HiTech, December 24, 2012, 01:28:03 PM

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HiTech

Log prices aren't what they use to be and may never get back there. Has anyone ever noticed that when they want the price of fuel to go up they invent some kind of scare? Last summer the draught caused many farm produce prices to go up. Skidder tires and chains have almost doubled in price in the last 3 years. What the poor logger has to do is put out more wood to offset the costs. Seems the more you put out the less you get for it. Stumpage prices go up and log prices go down. I know it will never happen but what if loggers backed down on the production, made logs and chips and etc. scarce? Right now the only way log prices will ever come back is if we ship to another Planet. I just have a feeling like everything else the Government likes Big Operations. Ones they can regulate and get contributions from. That's a nice way of saying bribe money. lol It's hard to regulate 1000's of small guys. Also they don't have the money the Politicians like, can't make the big campaign contributions. Just sort of idle thinking while waiting for the Hubbard squash to cook. My last one from my garden. They are big, will eat half and freeze half. Had a good crop this year, cooked and froze a lot of them. Even gave a bunch of them away. Perhaps someone else knows how to get prices back and costs down. Merry Christmas to all and have a safe Holiday Season. 

florida

I'm afraid it's just the way the world is moving. I'm not in the forestry business but it's the same everywhere. it's not so much that government likes big business but consumers do. Usually big operations are more efficient than small ones so can sell for less. Back in 1900 85% of the American male population was farmers. Today it's less than 2% yet those 2% produce magnitudes more food per person then in 1900. 

When I was a boy my grandmother bought groceries at the only store in town. It was about 2000 square feet and expensive. Today Walmart has taken over the grocery business and American consumers can buy food for less than anyone else in the world but most of the small stores are gone.

Look at logging in the Scandinavian countries. They grow trees like we grown corn and harvest about the same way. I use new technology forest  products almost every day on my construction jobs. I'm sorry to say we rarely use any actual boards except pressure treated pine. Plywood and OSB sheets, vinyl and PVC decking, fiberglass doors, and even plastic trim.

I'm a Luddite so I like the idea of horse logging, I just wouldn't want to try to make a living that way.

General contractor and carpenter for 50 years.
Retired now!

lumberjack48

Like I've said before, it was 1980 when big business run all the smaller loggers out of business around here. They paid more for the stumpage then they payed for the wood delivered to the mill. How could you big against them.
Third generation logger, owner operator, 30 yrs felling experience with pole skidder. I got my neck broke back in 89, left me a quad. The wife kept the job going up to 96.

Autocar

Ive never seen log prices this low in many moons. I blame it here in Ohio on the dry weather every mill including pallet mills are full up with logs and know one reaily wants any. My German veneer buyer dosen't want any to speak off eather says they didn't sell what they bought last fall and winter. I have some white oak veneer laying on the yard and theres no interest in them. What ever is selling I don't have any because Ive stacked logs where I never stacked them before here at home. I have a change at a smoker of a job but at the same time what to do with it after I buy it. Iam going to be very careful here after the first of the year and not get to stupid on buying more, hopefully 2013 will be a better year for wood producers
Bill

mills

We're seeing the same thing here. In the last year we've had only four to six weeks of actual winter, and very few rain events in the spring, summer, or fall that kept crews out of the woods for more than a couple of days at a time. Some of the local yards took a loss when they over bought, and the logs dried out before they could get to them. Here it is late December and the mills have as much inventory as they would normall have in August.
:christmas://

timberjack 450

Bill Clinton really put a hurt on the logging industry with his free trade agreement. We have a sawmill owner here that at times buys finished kiln dryed lumber from Russia and has it shipped here for little more than he pays for raw logs from local loggers.There are less consulting foresters here now. When things were good the forester got 15 to 20% and the loggers got about the same.(You can't live on 20%) Mainly due to the idiots that were bidding 700 per thousand for red oak on the stump. But most of the high bidders around here have gone thru most of daddies money are no longer much of a threat. Pulp is out of the question in this area,too far from any pulp mill. We have a great log buyer here and we still sell directly to Canada.Personally I would stay on the firewood pile before I would cut a lot for 20%.Your just one breakdown away from a loss. Every area is different,but that is what most loggers in this area feel. Everyone log safe,and Merry Christmas     
90 450 Timberjack, JD 650 G dozer, Hitachi 120 excavator, 2400 morbark chipper, 85 Western star log truck,and a 22-22 Blockbuster processor
Almost forgot, and a very patient woman

HiTech

I have watched many new homes being built in my area. Glue, sawdust, wood chips, seem to be the big source of what the building materials are made of. I have watched people tear what I call new roofs off homes that aren't 5 years old and replace them and the plywood. Everyone says this new technology is bullet proof, maybe so. Give me real lumber over the glued stuff. Here in the north country I just see too many new homes being worked on...continually I must ad. I almost think I would go with rough cut for framing and tongue n groove or shiplap for rest. I know vinyl is easy to work with but I like cedar clapboards. Also good hardwood floors. Just me, I guess I am kind of old school. lol

german.logger93

In Germany we have got the same problems. Price dumping everywhere. There are 3 logger who calculates well and 5 who dont know that 2+2 is 4, they think it´s 5! And so we´ve got the problem that there are always a guy who do the work for less money. He makes the work for 1 year then he become insolvent, then you can make your price and get the work for the price but half a year later there comes another guy who thinks "Oooh, logging?!? That must be a good business. An to get job´s he do it for half the price...

sjfarkas

Around here the mills can't get enough logs, but prices aren't going up.  It's funny that all the mills are owned by one company.
Always try it twice, the first time could've been a fluke.

Atlantic Trader

In my neck of the woods we are getting $250-$300 per 1000bdf for pine logs, depending on quality, but in reality they give what they want, when they want.

The trailers hold 6000-7000 bdf.


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