MAYFAIR MARKET UPDATE

Good Day,
Here is what is happening in commodities today.

Lumber…..remains steady, order files vary from Late March to Mid-April and as you know you can tag at least a couple weeks on to that for shipping.
Pricing is still increasing albeit not at the pace that it was at a few weeks ago. Many items are tough to find or if they are available they are for shipment in April.
Many yards will need to cover April /May soon so will there be enough inquiry to push the market higher?

Lots of variables to consider going forward. Feds raised interest rates yesterday. .25% should not have too large of an impact on the housing market . We can expect more rate increases to come so
perhaps the third and fourth quarters will be affected. Inflation is taking more money out of your pocket each day so this is a situation we will need to keep an eye on.
Shipping delays, can you get the product when you need it? There is an elephant in the room, that being the potential for a strike at CP rail.
They have a strike vote on Mar 16th so we will await the results of that vote. Hopefully that strike can be averted that is the last thing we need right now.
And finally we need to consider the impact of the conflict in the Ukraine. Russia does export 12 billion US dollars of wood products each year that is in the following categories:
Lumber, pulp, paper and pellets. Europe and China are their main customer so there may be a trickledown effect in North America over time but for today we have seen no immediate impact
like other industries like potash. Markets do not like uncertainty so will this conflict have a negative impact on peoples mindset?
Hopefully the powers at be can find a resolution soon for not only the people of Ukraine but for all of us.

Plywood…….Order files are late April to early May and of course add extra time for shipping. We did see one of the majors come to market with wood available for April production
but only for the Alberta and BC markets. It appears that some yards did participate but mainly on the West Coast. Watch for print to be up 3% again tomorrow.
Late shipments are still plaguing plywood, mills claim that shipping is easing. I don’t know about you but we have not seen many loads roll thru our gate.

OSB…..Call order files April. Pricing is getting to a point that the tap is slowing turning off on sales. One major was offering blocks of OSB out for April shipment but were still asking big prems over print.
On the distribution side contract loads are coming available and the prems being charged are diminishing. Print was up at Mid-Week and watch for it to be up again tomorrow as print is lagging the cash market.

Lots of variables to consider when making your buying decisions. Please feel free to contact us with any question you may have we are here to help not hinder.

Have a great day and happy selling.