Lumber prices and tariffs

Jon Boy

WKR
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
1,812
Location
Paradise Valley, MT
Anyone in the industry know if and when these tariffs will affect lumber prices? I have concrete in the ground for my personal house but don’t plan on starting until the spring as I’m back logged as it is… but should I just bight the bullet and order my lumber pack now?
 

Wellsdw

WKR
Joined
Jul 11, 2017
Messages
495
Location
Belews Creek NC
One of the reasons the national forest were set aside was for timber reserves for the country. Many of our national forest are 400-600% above recommended mature tree capacity. This also contributes to wildfire destruction. Select cut logging seems to kill 2 birds with one stone. Although I Imagine it's not that simple.
 

Marble

WKR
Joined
May 29, 2019
Messages
3,688
Anyone in the industry know if and when these tariffs will affect lumber prices? I have concrete in the ground for my personal house but don’t plan on starting until the spring as I’m back logged as it is… but should I just bight the bullet and order my lumber pack now?
Most of my customers are lumbermills. One of them is probably the largest in the US. They have been telling me prices have stayed the same, demand is mostly the same, but they are expecting it to go up. The fires in LA and other natural disasters have added potential future demand, future interest rates potentially going down and environmental rules being relaxed in order mamage forests and create more product seems to point towards the price going up. Nothing points to the price going down.

If you are looking at buying lumber, I would do it now.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
 

Snowwolfe

WKR
Joined
Jun 28, 2016
Messages
318
Location
Alaska
Current Canada tariffs on USA goods:
Milk: 270%
Cheese: 245%
Butter: 298%
Chicken: 238%
Sausages: 69.9%
Barley seed: 57.8%
Bovine/meat: 26.5%
Cars: 25%
HVAC: 45%
Vacuums: 35%
Cable boxes: 35%
TVs: 45%
Steel: 25%
Aluminum: 45%
Copper: 48%

Who is screwing who?
 

TheTone

WKR
Joined
Mar 4, 2012
Messages
1,835
One of the reasons the national forest were set aside was for timber reserves for the country. Many of our national forest are 400-600% above recommended mature tree capacity. This also contributes to wildfire destruction. Select cut logging seems to kill 2 birds with one stone. Although I Imagine it's not that simple.
It’s not that simple and the idea that forests aren’t being logged is a red herring. Around me forests are being cut faster than they will ever grow back. Loggers are passing on jobs left and right. They cut so much in the past few years they dropped the value of logs substantially
 

TaperPin

WKR
Joined
Jul 12, 2023
Messages
3,934
Current Canada tariffs on USA goods:
Milk: 270%
Cheese: 245%
Butter: 298%
Chicken: 238%
Sausages: 69.9%
Barley seed: 57.8%
Bovine/meat: 26.5%
Cars: 25%
HVAC: 45%
Vacuums: 35%
Cable boxes: 35%
TVs: 45%
Steel: 25%
Aluminum: 45%
Copper: 48%

Who is screwing who?
That’s how trade wars work. Are you surprised?
 

Wrench

WKR
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
6,641
Location
WA
It's going to suck before it gets better.....but we have to fix it.

Nafta screwed us bad. We're just getting back to where we were.
 

aer21

FNG
Joined
Apr 24, 2016
Messages
26
Current Canada tariffs on USA goods:
Milk: 270%
Cheese: 245%
Butter: 298%
Chicken: 238%
Sausages: 69.9%
Barley seed: 57.8%
Bovine/meat: 26.5%
Cars: 25%
HVAC: 45%
Vacuums: 35%
Cable boxes: 35%
TVs: 45%
Steel: 25%
Aluminum: 45%
Copper: 48%

Who is screwing who?
This is prior to the Trump tariff?
 

ThunderJack49

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 2, 2021
Messages
141
Location
Montana
It’s not that simple and the idea that forests aren’t being logged is a red herring. Around me forests are being cut faster than they will ever grow back. Loggers are passing on jobs left and right. They cut so much in the past few years they dropped the value of logs substantially
Where is this happening?
 

Idaboy

WKR
Joined
Oct 22, 2017
Messages
623
Current Canada tariffs on USA goods:
Milk: 270%
Cheese: 245%
Butter: 298%
Chicken: 238%
Sausages: 69.9%
Barley seed: 57.8%
Bovine/meat: 26.5%
Cars: 25%
HVAC: 45%
Vacuums: 35%
Cable boxes: 35%
TVs: 45%
Steel: 25%
Aluminum: 45%
Copper: 48%

Who is screwing who?
I learn something every day on the forum....we make TVs in US?!
 
Joined
Aug 4, 2019
Messages
1,417
Location
North Carolina
One issue I would consider...I assume the supplier won't keep it on hand for you.
Do you have a building/ warehouse to unload/ store it for that length of time?
I never liked having material sitting on site for more than a day or so because of the moisture / humidity causing it to warp. (Mainly talking about dimensional lumber that will have drywall attached to it). It can be a PITA for the framer, drywall, trim guys that have to deal with it.
I'd ask the supplier to let you know when they get escalation notices & go from there.
Most of the time dimensional is on a slightly different timeline than the sheet stuff (OSB, plywood)
 

IDVortex

WKR
Joined
Jan 16, 2024
Messages
1,445
Location
CDA Idaho
Anyone in the industry know if and when these tariffs will affect lumber prices? I have concrete in the ground for my personal house but don’t plan on starting until the spring as I’m back logged as it is… but should I just bight the bullet and order my lumber pack now?
If you'll be building with say any Zip panels including LP Weatherlogic. I'd buy that stuff at least now, 2 reasons, cost and to allow it to accumulate before being installed.
 
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