Western Red Cedar Forecast , 2013, part 3

 “The last

month has been crazy what with moving

from our previous offices, which were in

Richmond at our staging plant. Now we are

on Burrard St. in Vancouver, across the

bridge from downtown. The market is really

strong and really active on Red Cedar. Most

majors are sold out the first quarter of the

new year. We have been booking business

like crazy and now we have to step back and

evaluate before taking additional

orders. Prices are up $50 to $100 per thousand

and people are paying it.

“Everyone was optimistic at the Tradersʼ

Market in Chicago. They were very upbeat

and talked about making some money during

the past year and that the new year

should be as good or better. There is a log

shortage in Cedar. This is creating some

issues. One x 12 boards are tight and so are

timbers. Clears are hard to get. Overall, we

anticipate a good year for 2013.”

Andy Carr, in sales for Gorman Brothers,

a large Spruce and Lodgepole board

Western Red Cedar forecast 2013, part 2

C.

,“Demand is up and prices are

strengthening, but there is not a lot of Cedar

available. The supply wonʼt improve much

before March or April due to logging conditions.

Logging is just starting to pick up a bit

now. The first quarter will be tight for

clears. Most of our customers are optimistic

about the new year saying it will be the same

or better than 2012. Europe will be a struggle—

level to down in demand. However

Europe is low on inventory and some

importers will buy big volumes off the

majors; this will affect all of us on the supply

side positively. On the North America side

the input we are getting is that retail demand

for Cedar is strong. The talk is very optimistic

from the market side. Our mill does

have logs, but we need more.”

Al Fortune, head of Mid Valley Lumber

Forecast for Western Red Cedar use and availablity in 2013

repeated in all supplier

comments in mid-

December was “shortages.”

Jim Dunse, of Mill &

Timber Products,

Surrey, B.C.

,

“The Western Red Cedar market is completely

supply driven now. Customers say

they donʼt have enough wood for the orders

they are expecting going into the new year. I

strongly suspect things will tighten up more

as the new year progresses and that we will

see a bit of a frenzy in the marketplace. Our

mill is operating with logs now, but we donʼt

have the size and quality we would like to

have on hand for the demand we see with

rising housing numbers. Our log situation is

no different than any other one in the Pacific

northwest. There are a lot of good signs for

future business out there for those of us supplying

wood; the only question is what, if

any, this U.S. budget fiscal cliff situation will

ultimately bring to us.”

Sterling Fence stocks a full line of Westrn Red Cedar


Berny Power, also with Mill & Timber


,