Lumber prices

[Patrick NC]

I stopped to Lowe's on the way home from work yesterday to get some decking screws and just for fun I wandered through the lumber section. I was dumbfounded that the price of a white wood 2x4x8 was $8.53! I don't even know what to say about that. Maybe I should quit sawing cedar and start sawing framing lumber. 🤨

[RussMaGuss]

It's been 5.35 by me for a couple months now. It was like 6.50 before that, so it's going down a little bit. Doesn't seem to have effected the hardwood market much though, as far as I can tell. Prices around me are the same as they were before the RONA hit us lol 

[DixieReb31]

The really sad part is that, somewhere many are paying that amount. 
I feel the same way about new trucks. I don't know how people afford them. 

[WDH]

Every week for the past few months the wholesale price of tractor trailer loads of various hardwoods published via The Hardwood market Report have been increasing, especially in the last 4 weeks.  Get ready for a pretty good retail hardwood lumber price increase.

[nativewolf]

Every week for the past few months the wholesale price of tractor trailer loads of various hardwoods published via The Hardwood market Report have been increasing, especially in the last 4 weeks.  Get ready for a pretty good retail hardwood lumber price increase.

Thank goodness!  

[Southside]

SYP 2x4 wholesale hit a new high two weeks ago, $1075 / MBF if I remember correctly, might be even higher now, it was higher than all other categories.  Get ready for EVERYTHING to get a lot more expensive in a hurry.  My beef processor sent out an e-mail yesterday explaining they are increasing their prices due to the cost of all their supplies going up.  She detailed things like gloves, knives, etc and how much they have jumped.  So guess what, my beef, chicken, and lumber prices have gone up just the same.  Fuel is going up, none of us win when this happens. 

[nativewolf]

SYP 2x4 wholesale hit a new high two weeks ago, $1075 / MBF if I remember correctly, might be even higher now, it was higher than all other categories.  Get ready for EVERYTHING to get a lot more expensive in a hurry.  My beef processor sent out an e-mail yesterday explaining they are increasing their prices due to the cost of all their supplies going up.  She detailed things like gloves, knives, etc and how much they have jumped.  So guess what, my beef, chicken, and lumber prices have gone up just the same.  Fuel is going up, none of us win when this happens.

What's the rate now for a whole cow?  You going to NC or up to Fauquier?  I was going to trade some log moving for a nice walking piece of beef, I really wanted the bull the destroyed the bed on the truck but he's not for sale/trade.  
 0% money for two years and the Fed handing out 3 trillion last year and now they want to do another 1 trillion, yah going to fuel some crazy stuff.  

[nativewolf]

SYP 2x4 wholesale hit a new high two weeks ago, $1075 / MBF if I remember correctly, might be even higher now, it was higher than all other categories.  Get ready for EVERYTHING to get a lot more expensive in a hurry.  My beef processor sent out an e-mail yesterday explaining they are increasing their prices due to the cost of all their supplies going up.  She detailed things like gloves, knives, etc and how much they have jumped.  So guess what, my beef, chicken, and lumber prices have gone up just the same.  Fuel is going up, none of us win when this happens.

What's the rate now for a whole cow?  You going to NC or up to Fauquier?  I was going to trade some log moving for a nice walking piece of beef, I really wanted the bull the destroyed the bed on the truck but he's not for sale/trade.  
0% money for two years and the Fed handing out 3 trillion last year and now they want to do another 1 trillion, yah going to fuel some crazy stuff.  

To add insult to injury no one wants to work if they are getting paid to not work.  So they have money, and are doing nothing.  Great, just great.

[Wudman]

Plant a big garden.  Us "Good Ole Boys" are going to be on the barter system before it's over.  My business is dead when inflation kicks in.

Wudman

[nativewolf]

Plant a big garden.  Us "Good Ole Boys" are going to be on the barter system before it's over.  My business is dead when inflation kicks in.

Wudman

Jeff have the rates for pine stumpage moved up?  I mean lumber prices have been soaring, either mills are just raking in $ or the retail folks are.
Out of curiosity what's pine stumpage running today?  

[Southside]

Grass finished steer, ready to be harvested $3 / lb as it stands in my pasture.  Frozen beef, USDA inspected, $8 / lb.  

[PAmizerman]

My dad bought some kiln dried curly maple last week. The owner of the yard told him he just beat the increase. The next week hardwoods are going up $1 a bf

[Wudman]

It's a sad story in Southern VA.  Stumpage hasn't moved significantly......we actually took a $2.00 / ton price cut on delivered wood back when things dried out a bit and the lumber market was at record highs.  There is not enough competition here.  We lost about 60% of our processing capacity back in 2008.  Very little of that has recovered.  The Klausner Mill down in Enfield, NC was purchased out of bankruptcy  and is projected to commence sawing late this year.  At 360 million feet per year, that will certainly help.  It has the capability to double that production, so it would help a little more.  The mills are making an absolute killing right now.  I ask myself everyday.....why are you selling stumpage into it, instead of sawing yourself.  I guarantee that if I stepped into it, the world would turn upside down overnight.

Wudman 

[Sod saw]

If my math is correct.

I assumed that a 2 x 4 is actually 1.5 inch x 3.5 inches.

Around here, an 8 foot 2 x 4 is $2.00 per board foot.
                      10 foot 2 x 4 is $2.21/ bf
                      12 foot 2 x 4 is $2.29/ bf

2 x 6's are a few cents less per bf

It seems to me that the question is:   How much does it cost you in materials (log) to make  each of your own piece of framing lumber.  How much would you charge per board foot to cut that board if you were cutting it for a customer.

To confuse this a bit more I have been know to cut my own rough ones at 2 full inches by 3.5 inches so that they match the same wall thickness (studs), for my own small projects.  Full 2 inch thick gives me a little more meat to nail or screw into.

Are you confused yet?                   I am.

[mike_belben]

we've seen a lot of peaks in the last hundred years and they all have a commonality.  record highs come just before crashes so don't go spending dollars you can't chance. not being political, its just statistical.  when you get to the top rung of a ladder the odds of you going down are better than of going up, and the odds of going down fast are pretty good, especially if anything comes flying out of left field. 


price rises right now are a correction from money printing.  the goods are repricing to correct for a new lower dollar value because the goods still have the same intrinsic value but the money doesn't so the goods are worth more of the lesser money.  money is just a place holder for hours of labor. 


  do not be fooled into thinking this is inflation from economic growth, it is absolutely not.  there is rapid economic contraction hidden beneath the veneer of rising prices. when free money stops being mailed out and/or fed bond purchases is ended, it will all come crashing down.  that could be next month, next election or next decade but its coming and it will wipe out everyone who plays the hand wrong. 

[1countryboy]

Careful what you wish for!!!   Trading work for a "walking, grass fed (over fed) beef.   Since the big packers got hit with the virus small packers got booked out 8-10 months.   Then small processors rushed the processing.    Should be hung several weeks and pushing thru in a week hanging.   Producers losing money feeding cows that should already be in a freezer. Processors are raising processing charges........because they can. 

Time to go back "in time", when farm families did their grocery shopping in the garden and raised own beef, hogs, and milked cows.   Were those the good old days or ...NOT.......  Today, most people have no idea what hard work was and is. 8) :P :D.  Just some food for thought.  Oh, FOOD.

[mike_belben]

i think the coming years you're gonna see a big rise in barnyard slaughtering and 'clandestine' family meat markets.   not to mention a spike in small insulated reefer container prices.  

[Sixacresand]

The really sad part is that, somewhere many are paying that amount.
I feel the same way about new trucks. I don't know how people afford them.

Some people pay the high cost of lumber and trucks.  On the other hand, some of us mill our own lumber and drive old pickups. 

[Southside]

Careful what you wish for!!!   Trading work for a "walking, grass fed (over fed) beef.   Since the big packers got hit with the virus small packers got booked out 8-10 months.   Then small processors rushed the processing.    Should be hung several weeks and pushing thru in a week hanging.   Producers losing money feeding cows that should already be in a freezer. Processors are raising processing charges........because they can.

Time to go back "in time", when farm families did their grocery shopping in the garden and raised own beef, hogs, and milked cows.   Were those the good old days or ...NOT.......  Today, most people have no idea what hard work was and is. 8) :P :D.  Just some food for thought.  Oh, FOOD.

It's like anything else, some cut corners, and some simply continue to produce a great product. It's all in what matters to the producer. I know what our focus is and our customers appreciate it.

[snobdds]

I was reading a article in risk journal my work subscribes too.  

It says the Fed has inflation still below 2%, which is their target, but it just redefined the allowable inflation target to 2.5%.  However, they did not adjust their "basket of goods" that predicts inflation.  Many of us know, the price of goods has gone up more than 2% in the last year. 

The same article also said with the price of lumber where it's currently at 12/2020, it adds 18-22K to the price of an average house from the same time in 2019.  Assuming a 200K house, just the lumber upcharge is adding 10% in overall cost.  Then factor all the other things that go into a house build and your looking at around a 20% increase in price in just one year.  

That's a lot more than the 2% they say is currently happening. 

There is going to be some tough days ahead...no question about that. 

[nativewolf]

Careful what you wish for!!!   Trading work for a "walking, grass fed (over fed) beef.   Since the big packers got hit with the virus small packers got booked out 8-10 months.   Then small processors rushed the processing.    Should be hung several weeks and pushing thru in a week hanging.   Producers losing money feeding cows that should already be in a freezer. Processors are raising processing charges........because they can.

Time to go back "in time", when farm families did their grocery shopping in the garden and raised own beef, hogs, and milked cows.   Were those the good old days or ...NOT.......  Today, most people have no idea what hard work was and is. 8) :P :D.  Just some food for thought.  Oh, FOOD.

That is why he wants to trade, cash is tight but trees are in his fields and he is no spring rooster.  Prob 2 days of work for us and forwarder so a cow was offered.  I would have  to get slaughtered, I could just let it graze,  have a freezer that is empty.  
Where to get slaughtered is the question 

[taylorsmissbeehaven]

I normally do interior remodeling for a living. With Covid we have built a fair number of decks in the last few months. Keeps us outside and feels safer to us and the homeowner. With the high price and lack of availability, most of these decks have been done with synthetic decking. The price got to about the same as P.T. wood so why not?? My neighbor had to buy feed for his cows for the first time ever this year. He just couldnt get them processed This has been a strange year for everyone. We will have to see where this goes. Brian 

[mike_belben]

I was reading a article in risk journal my work subscribes too.  

It says the Fed has inflation still below 2%, which is their target, but it just redefined the allowable inflation target to 2.5%.  However, they did not adjust their "basket of goods" that predicts inflation.  Many of us know, the price of goods has gone up more than 2% in the last year.

The same article also said with the price of lumber where it's currently at 12/2020, it adds 18-22K to the price of an average house from the same time in 2019.  Assuming a 200K house, just the lumber upcharge is adding 10% in overall cost.  Then factor all the other things that go into a house build and your looking at around a 20% increase in price in just one year.  

That's a lot more than the 2% they say is currently happening.

There is going to be some tough days ahead...no question about that.

theres a lot i wanna say but it all makes me sick.  


sound currency has no inflation target or need for bureaucratic meddling.  ours has simply become unsound.  you better not be a saver these next few years. its a silent destruction that people can feel but not always articulate or understand.  but everyone can see that $100 grocery cart shrinking in height, weight and quality. 

[Patrick NC]

It seems that this topic has struck a nerve. As well it should. Lumber is just one example of the madness. Just wait and see what happens when you have to pay someone $15 an hour to ask if you want fries with that! I'll just stop right here before I accidentally get political and get myself in trouble. 😠

[kb7722]

SYP 2x4 wholesale hit a new high two weeks ago, $1075 / MBF if I remember correctly, might be even higher now, it was higher than all other categories.  Get ready for EVERYTHING to get a lot more expensive in a hurry.  My beef processor sent out an e-mail yesterday explaining they are increasing their prices due to the cost of all their supplies going up.  She detailed things like gloves, knives, etc and how much they have jumped.  So guess what, my beef, chicken, and lumber prices have gone up just the same.  Fuel is going up, none of us win when this happens.

What's the rate now for a whole cow?  You going to NC or up to Fauquier?  I was going to trade some log moving for a nice walking piece of beef, I really wanted the bull the destroyed the bed on the truck but he's not for sale/trade.  
0% money for two years and the Fed handing out 3 trillion last year and now they want to do another 1 trillion, yah going to fuel some crazy stuff.  

To add insult to injury no one wants to work if they are getting paid to not work.  So they have money, and are doing nothing.  Great, just great.

No worries! We'll just increase minimum wage to get them back to work. 🤪