Market fluctuations and extreme weather threaten the U.S. lumber industry

World Today

 

Post-pandemic prices have been see-sawing for many products, not least lumber, the wood often used in building residential buildings.

Consumers, using federal stimulus checks to renovate their homes, drove a rise in wood-intensive construction during the COVID years.

Sawmills ramped up inventories to meet demand, but with diminished appetites for remodeling and new home construction, oversupplies of lumber are leaving the companies in dire straits.