JANUARY 2022 BUILDING MATERIAL MARKET REFLECTION

There doesn’t seem to be a product line that was not affected by the transportation crunch being felt throughout North America to begin 2022. Lack of access to rail cars, trucks and sea containers combined with COVID absenteeism have created a perfect storm. The supply chain feels truly broken with everyone speculating when we might see it get fixed.

Lumber continued to climb for the first three weeks of January finally peaking the last week of the month. It was up 14 weeks in a row if you were keeping track. Everyone will now try to put the PO books away waiting for a downward price correction. With mill order files reaching into mid to late February and the above-mentioned transportation issues it could be some time before we see some price adjustments at the mill level. The next few weeks might be a bit of a standoff seeing who will blink first the mills or buyers.

OSB and Plywood continue to be a challenge for everyone. Lack of available product and transportation issues had most mills off the market making product very difficult to source, and if you could find something you were paying a steep premium. Two major OSB suppliers issued force majeure statements, slowing down production due to the inability to ship finished product. Both Plywood and OSB continues to be moving upward strongly every week. We are seeing shipments currently running 4-6 weeks late from the mills. Even with OSB trading at a strong premium, which would typically see builders shift to plywood. That is not an option right now with lack of available supply.

New orders in truss are very strong to start the year off. Builders are looking to try to catch up on projects they were unable to start in 2021. This strong start to January combined with lumber, OSB supply issues and continued EWP allocations, is creating many challenges for producers and builders alike.

As difficult as all products have been to source some finishing products may be the most challenging right now. Mouldings are almost impossible to find as all producers seem to be waiting for raw materials to arrive via offshore. Trucking is also causing late arrivals of products, putting stress on suppliers and builders. Prices increases have been seen on all product lines to start 2022.

FRAMING LUMBER

Lumber started strong but finally peaked in the last week of the month. Mill order files are out into mid to late February, combined with current transportation issues it may be some time before we see the mills needing to adjust pricing.

OSB

Strong demand and lack of supply has OSB continuing to run almost unabated. Most mills are off the market on any sales outside of contract business causing a huge premium between cash and contract pricing.

PLYWOOD

Plywood continues to be very difficult to source. Most mills are off the market and not quoting any product at this time as transportation issues have them running 4-6 weeks late on shipments.

JANUARY 28, 2022 LUMBER MARKET REPORT HIGHLIGHTS:

• Across the framing market, traders slowed purchasing, and through a second week of low demand, it left prices continuing to grow.
• Traders turned towards the secondary market to purchase, while the wholesalers are working to cut back their inventory.
• The lumber futures market eliminated basis-trading volumes, while the shipping issue throughout the offshore market turned supply back to North America.

JANUARY 28, 2022 PANEL MARKET REPORT HIGHLIGHTS:

• Plywood scare supplies caused the demand for plywood the decrease while OSB prices continued to rise.
• Transportation issues continue the rise leading to OSB mills being unable to satisfy contractual obligations.
• Southern Pine plywood buyer lost urgency to purchase, but prices steadied at midweek levels amid limited open-market offerings.
• In the Fir plywood market, the demand steady leaving mill prices stable.
• Canadian plywood producers spent a significant time organizing transportation for orders from two months ago.

*All Pricing is in CAD