The volume of lumber available in the US during the first six months of the year declined to its lowest level since 2001, with domestic production and imports both down according to the latest figures.
Published in Random Lengths, the weekly report on the North American forest products markets, the figures show that domestic production declined by 14% year-on-year to 17.65 billion board feet, with imports down by 21% to 9.85 billion board feet.
A 25% decline in housing starts during the January-June period was highlighted as the cause of the fall, with the continuing weakness of the US dollar and a 9% increase in US lumber exports exacerbating the results according to Random Lengths.
