Forest2Market Monthly News




February Poll

US housing starts surged to a 13-year high at the end of 2019. Will starts increase, decrease or remain flat in 2020?

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Increase
Decrease
Remain Flat
Results From January's Poll

Globally, what industry segment is poised for the most growth in 2020?

US-China Trade Deal Provides Relief for Hardwood Sector

By Travis Durkee
The hardwood industry was finally granted some long-awaited relief last Wednesday when the United States and China signed “Phase One” of a new trade pact between the world’s two largest economies.

SYP Lumber Prices Deflate in 2019; What’s in Store for 2020?

By John Greene
2019 is now in the books and after 12 months of moderate volatility, southern yellow pine lumber prices finished the year with a whimper. While US housing starts showed signs of life in 4Q2019, the segment is not close to returning to the historical average (1.5 million starts/month), and Forest2Market’s southern yellow pine (SYP) composite prices illustrate this challenge.

NA Dimension Softwood Lumber Prices Firm in Early 2020

By Keta Kosman
As expected by most softwood lumber producers at the end of 2019, demand for construction framing dimension softwood lumber products remained steady through the holiday season and looks promising as the industry ushers in 2020.
The latest round of sawmill closures, mostly in British Columbia (BC), and continually improving housing demand in the US are working to keep lumber supplies quite tight in western North America.

Five Predictions for Global Pulp & Paper Industries in 2020 (and Beyond)

By Rod Fisher
Fisher International has spent considerable time over the last 35 years tracking trends coming over the horizon and predicting where they will take the pulp and paper industry. We have published some such thoughts over the years, and I thought it would be interesting to make a few new predictions as we begin a new decade, with the idea of looking back on them in a few years to see how they turned out.

Forest2Market Announces Role in Knight Property Transaction

By Forest2Market
Northern Trust (as trustee) recently sold the Knight Property—54,929 acres of timberland—in the Florida Panhandle. For the transaction, Tap Advisors acted as an advisor to Northern Trust, and Forest2Market acted as special advisor, providing deep domain expertise in forestry and forest products markets. The property sold for $67.5 million, or $1,229 per acre.

Australia’s Catastrophic Wildfires are Unprecedented

By Tim Woods
Australia’s current forest fires are unprecedented in several respects: They are unparalleled in scale and extent, ferocity and behaviour, damage and devastation without doubt. These fires are also unprecedented in part because their likelihood was predicted, and the extent of their impact was inevitable. Australia is in the midst of a deep drought, with much of the nation at its driest on record. Moreover, 2019 was the hottest year on record in Australia.

US Housing Starts Reach 13-year High in December

By John Greene
Talk about a well-timed (if late) Christmas gift for the US economy. Housing starts skyrocketed to a 13-year high in December as building activity increased across the board; both single-family and multi-family building was up significantly.

US Forest Industry Performance: December 2019

By Joe Clark
The characteristics that make the Brazilian forest sector unique in the world are many. Chief among them are the high growth potential to attract new investment, a vibrant forest-based industry and fast-growth rates of popular tree species.

US Labor Market: 4Q2019 Recap, 2020 Outlook

By Forest2Market
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) establishment survey reported growth in non-farm payroll employment cooled considerably during December when rising by 145,000 jobs (+160,000 expected). Also, October and November employment gains were revised down by a combined 14,000