4 ms·
> None of the mills started expanding or engaging in capital programs to try and take advantage of the increased prices. I'm a bit doubtful about this because
by bildung 5y ago
> None of the mills started expanding or engaging in capital programs to try and take advantage of the increased prices.
I'm a bit doubtful about this because I know that even German mills started to produce lumber with US dimensions, causing shortages for metric lumber locally.
- btbuildem 5y agoHaha, and that was probably some of the straightest, most consistent lumber seen in North America in decades
- rootusrootus 5y agoDon't shop for lumber at Home Depot.
- poetaster 5y agoGerman lumber is as badly milled as anywhere. My fortune is friends with tools.
- mywittyname 5y agoPart of the issue was caused by issues getting Canadian supplies of lumber into the USA due to a trade dispute. It's possible that these German mills are just taking advantage of being in a temporarily good trading position, with the understanding that cheap Canadian imports will retake their market position shortly. If they thought this was permanent, they would have expanded to supply the USA, rather than doing so at the expense of domestic production.
- ghshephard 5y agoDefinitely overseas suppliers of lumber immediately pivoted their existing capacity and started running extra shifts. I have a friend who works for a lumber wholesaler, and close to 100% of their additional sales came from lumber in Asia. But, if there was an expectation that these price levels were going to be sustained, the mills would have started engaging in capital programs to increase their capacity - because, and this is critical - there was no supply of raw-timber issue, indeed - the price of raw timber didn't increase. That those capital programs did not take place, is the strongest representation I can think of of Mill owners true assessment of the long term prices.