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woodezine - Volume
V - Issue I - Spring 2007
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| The Hardwood Market Report, established in 1922, is a weekly publication that provides "benchmark pricing and market commentary on North American hardwood lumber, and the hardwood products industry". While the Report can be a great tool for small shops, it's important to understand that its focus is the primary market, and as such the pricing is for truckload and carload quantities. To give you some idea of the numbers involved, Little River Lumber Company LLC in Hickory, North Carolina estimates that a truckload of green lumber might run seven to eight thousand board feet, while kiln dried lumber can run ten to sixteen thousand board feet. If you're milling hardwood flooring, those numbers make sense. If you build a couple of kitchens a year, they don't. With that in mind, the Report's real value to smaller shops is not so much the prices listed (although they give an accurate indication of trends), but rather the finger that it provides on the pulse of the industry. |
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For example, each issue contains hundreds of ads from lumber suppliers that list species available, cuts, sizes and geographical locations. The ads themselves are a virtual who's-who of the industry. If a large supplier doesn't handle quantities that a smaller shop needs, they should be able to point the buyer to someone to whom they sell, who in turn can break down large loads into usable sizes. A few of the ads also list professional job openings at some of the best companies in the industry. |
| Some of the other territory covered might
be a quick summary of leading economic indicators such as new home sales,
durable goods, gross domestic product, disposable income, unemployment,
and even gas prices. The meat of the Report, however, is the tables of
predominant price estimates that include Appalachian, Northern and Southern
species in various thicknesses and grades, and oak strip flooring (red
and white).
Here's how the Report's Web site describes their readership: Each month, the Report provides "a condensed look at historical prices for key species and grades. The tables for Comparative Lumber Prices are divided into three producing regions, Southern, Appalachian, and Northern, and cover both green and kiln dried prices. Subscribers can track historical trends by comparing current prices to those from the preceding three months, and follow through at six month, one year, and two year intervals. While the material is not designed to predict future prices, this monthly feature does offer an informative review of past price movement that is quick and easy to use." A visit to the HMR Web site can be very informative. Among other things, their Forest Information Center gives readers a comprehensive look at the North American hardwood forests, individual species, environmental issues, hardwood grades, and educational and research sources. Elsewhere on the site is an extensive listing of industry associations and organizations, complete with contact info and Web site links. And their Consumer Wood Products Information page leads woodworkers (and their clients) through a cascade of Web sites that address just about every aspect of the industry from a small shop viewpoint. The Report is published every Saturday in Memphis, Tennessee. An annual subscription runs US $230.00 (which is $4.42 an issue). For Canadian shops the rate is US $245.00, and international subscriptions are US $340.00. There are special rates on extra copies delivered to a company's same or branch locations. Subscribers are able to view or download the current week's issue, as well as receive a weekly hard copy by mail. |
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For more information, visit the Hardwood Market Report online. |