3 ms·
Lumbermills are a local industry since transportation is a very significant fraction of the final cost. No one is shipping wood from Oregon to a mill on the Eas
by throwup238 2y ago
Lumbermills are a local industry since transportation is a very significant fraction of the final cost. No one is shipping wood from Oregon to a mill on the East coast to sell to a construction company in California, so every mill is very much sensitive to local competitors.
Ironically it's the larger mills that are insensitive to this dynamic, since they supply huge national customers like the big box stores or export to international markets. If Home Depot or Lowes decide their suppliers need a new mill, they finance it and it gets built.
- creer 2y agoThis is what suprised me when I did a (very cursory) look in there. It seems some mills do ship back and forth quite a ways along the West Coast. And I don't know that Home Depot and Lowes have that much of the market. They are not the ones that serve large construction projects. But if they did, it would be enough of a long term market that they could influence prices by funding new mills in exchange for more say into the price, a share of any profit, both, whatever. If they had this capacity, they could solve this funding issue.