lumber prices

[Ron Wenrich]

Yes, the Euro is strong.  Right now it takes about $1.54 to buy a Euro.  Our gas is expensive, not theirs.  If we were on par with the Euro, our $3.75 gas would be $2.43.

They've been bringing in European wood for quite awhile.  It has to do with the tariff that has been placed on the big Canadian mills that were exporting to the US.  They can buy European wood and send it in without having any tariffs, and still make money.  I'm thinking they sell their excess to Europe. 

Shipping is not a problem.  We send ships over to Europe with goods, like veneer logs.  They don't want to bring the ships back empty.  So, they fill it up with lumber.

That's what the Chinese are doing right now.  They bring in shiploads of goods, then buy container cars of raw materials, like logs, lumber, steel, and copper.  We had a few guys come in looking for logs and were looking for 50 containers/month of raw materials.  Their prices are better than what we can get if we saw them up.   

[Bibbyman]

Our local markets are soft.  Orders smaller and longer between orders. 

Also we’ve got one customer that wants to buy,  but they just don’t want to pay.  We’re only extending them small amounts at a time until they pay for what we’ve delivered then we send them more.  Basically, they’re using our money to keep going.  We’re not playing those games.  We expect to pay for what we buy and we expect them to do the same.

We have had a couple of odd calls from companies out of state wanting hardwood blocking.  The latest call was from Ohio. The quantities and items they want are not something we can provide.  I’m just wondering if the hardwood mill(s) in their area have shut down or are having trouble getting logs. They must be desperate if they’re hunting hard enough to find us.

[Ron Wenrich]

I thought that by now, we would be seeing a downturn in business.  But, that's not the case for us.  We're still at the stage where we can call up a buyer and sell several trailerloads of wood.  Blocking prices are still good, ties are moving, and we just got an order for several trailerloads of 8x8x16 blocking.  I cut one load out of tulip poplar.  Price was so good that I didn't have to worry about leaving grade on the piece.

I sawed 2 trailerloads of F1F and better tulip poplar grade this week.  Last week I was sawing 8/4 ash, and 4/4 white oak.  Next week I'm back on red oak.  The price isn't as good on the red oak, but its starting to come back.

When the saw guy comes around, he tells me that some mills can't move wood.  I haven't found that problem.  It must be who you're dealing with.

[Cedarman]

The news media has got everyone thinking we are the edge of a depression and in reality we have not yet had the first down quarter in our economy.  My phone is ringing off the hook, so demand for our products are still strong.  Demand for mulch in Ok is fantastic.  1/3 goes into the oil industry so that helps.

There is a downturn in the sawmill industry, but it has always been cyclic.
The US dollar going down makes foreign stuff more expensive for us and it makes our logs and lumber cheaper for them.  So, lets ship overseas.

I still see logs moving down the road, but not as much as usual.
If the government will let us inovative Americans do our job, we will get things figured out.

[woodmills1]

cedarman I like your thinking.

[Ron Wenrich]

You never see logs that are in containers.  We do several loads a month.