National Hardwood Magazine - May 2023

WEST COAST Continued from page 11
lumber yards. “Business is improving for some of them,”
he said. “They’re getting more inquiries and more orders.
“Transportation is not a problem,” he observed. “In
Northern California, snow and rain there have affected
our business,” he remarked. “Some orders have been
put on hold.”
To the north, in Oregon, a lumberman stated, “Our
business activity is all right. It’s a little soft; it’s not robust.
But we are doing pretty well. Some people are nervous
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about the economy but we have customers who are
booked out through the end of the year with jobs.”
Asked to compare current business activity with several
months ago, he replied, “That’s a really good question.
A few months ago interest rate hikes were a concern.
Now, dealing with our market is day to day but about the
same as several months earlier. There are some indications
of market softening. You have interest rates that
have risen that have deterred people from doing projects.
We’re doing good in spite of all
that.
“We handle virtually all domestic
and some exotic species of lumber,
primarily in Select and Better and
4/4 with some 12/4 and 16/4,” he
said.
He sells lumber to distribution
yards, manufacturers and end users,
“the whole gamut,” he commented.
“From what we hear, a lot
of manufacturers are still busy. They
are short-handed, doing the same
amount of work with fewer employees.
Portland is different from other
cities. There’s a lot of red tape
required to build houses. So, Portland
never overbuilt like other big
cities. We haven’t seen a dramatic
decrease in home prices; they’ve
gone flat.
“I don’t know what the next three
months will hold. People are nervous.
There’s not a lot of confidence
in the market. We’re preparing for a
recession. I don’t know if it’s going
to be that severe.”
He said, “Transportation is expensive.
We’ve relied on our own trucking
and have pushed it to the limit
because we can make it work with
what we have now in trucks and
drivers.”
Further north in Washington, another
lumberman noted that he had
“increased activity this month. Last
month was slow as far as booking
orders. Looking forward, business
looks stronger.”
Compared to a few months earli-
72 MAY 2023 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE www.RealAmericanHardwood.org
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