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Southern Yellow Pine Lumber Prices Rebound in July

Southern Yellow Pine Lumber Prices Rebound in July

As housing starts continued to slow in July, southern yellow pine (SYP) lumber prices followed suit before momentarily reversing course to stop a steady four-week slide. Forest2Market’s composite southern yellow pine lumber price for the week ending August 17 (Week 34) was $446/MBF, a 5 percent increase from the previous week’s price of $423/MBF. Year-over-year, week 34’s price represents an 18 percent increase from the same week in 2017. 

The price reversal was likely driven by new SYP orders, which surged in week 34 to their highest level of 2018. While shipments didn’t reach into record territory, they were quite strong and at levels not seen since late May when SYP prices reached a peak of $576/MBF. Price volatility has been the norm thus far in 2018; the trend is likely to continue as the timing of the recent price increase and flood of new orders may foretell strong housing starts numbers for August, which will be released by the US Census Bureau on September 19.

A closer look at some of the prices we have seen since the beginning of the year:

  • 1Q2018 Average Price: $449/MBF
  • 2Q2018 Average Price: $523/MBF
  • YTD Average Price: $482/MBF

 

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