Supply chain concerns arise over Canadian wildfires
The deep, smokey haze in the Northeast, caused by Canadian wildfires, has moved out.
New York is no longer the most polluted city in the world.
But more than 400 fires continue to burn across Canada, with nearly 200 still out of control. Experts, including FOX Weather, said this could be one of Canada’s worst wildfire seasons to date as smoke and poor air quality now descends on the U.S. Midwest.
And some worry the fires might have an impact on lumber supplies as U.S. home builders and remodelers have entered their busiest season.
“While it doesn’t appear that there is a shortage of timber to the mills yet, order files are longer and the mills have taken a significant amount of business this past week, as field inventories were lean,” Steve Sallah, CEO of LBM Advantage told HBSDealer.
LMB Advantage is one of the nation’s largest forest and building product cooperatives with 516 dealer-member companies operating over 1,350 locations in 45 states.
According to Sallah, some customers have been anxious as they dread supply chain issues while looking to cover their summer needs.
At the same time, the prices of lumber, wood products, and softwood lumber continue to peel off. The latest Price Producer Index, released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows that overall construction material input prices slipped by 0.6% in May.
But lumber and wood product prices have fallen 15.9% on a year-over-year basis while softwood lumber prices have plummeted by more than 40% compared to a year ago, largely due to a slowdown in the housing market.
“Pricing came off the bottom, but it's not certain how long-lived this situation will be,” Sallah said.
Kéta Kosman, owner and publisher of Madison’s Lumber Reporter said that much of the Canadian logging season was already winding down when the fires began to ignite in March.
In the latest update from Madison’s Lumber Reporter, Kosman notes that lumber producers remain well-stocked as customers felt no urgency to order beyond immediate needs for existing projects.
“Inventories in the field were reasonably robust, providing wholesalers, resellers, and other secondary suppliers with the opportunity to offer deals and grab some business from sawmills,” Kosman said, noting that the fires have had an impact on some rail and highway supply chain routes.
“We are watching carefully how all these events will play out in what is normally a busy season,” Sallah said.
Sending more U.S. assistance
After his hometown felt the impact of the wildfires, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D - NY) has said the United States should send more personnel to Canada to combat the fires.
The legislator is calling on the U.S. Forestry Service to double the number of firefighters it sends to 600.
“Last week, New Yorkers stepped outside feeling like they were living in a chimney,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, said at June 11 press conference held in New York.
“To prevent another chimney-like experience from happening, we need to take action, we need to get at these fires at their source so that we don’t suffer another wave next week or the week after of the kind of wildfire air pollution that we suffered from this past week,” the Senator said.
“We are the Big Apple, not the big chimney,” he added.
Experts have said the fires could burn into September, however.
