Weak pulp markets and reduced demand for wood fibre resulted in lower costs for wood chips and pulp wood in practically all regions of North America in Q1/09 according to the Wood Resource Quarterly.
This is the fourth consecutive quarter that wood fibre prices have fallen, with the biggest reductions occurring in Western US and Western Canada.
In the US South, which is the biggest wood fibre consumer in the world, pulp mills have only experienced minor downward price adjustments in recent months.
The wet spring in the US South resulted in reduced logging and many pulp mills have seen their log inventories fall to unusually low levels. Fortunately for timber buyers, demand for logs from saw mills, OSB mills and pulp mills has been lower than usual and there has not been much upward price pressure on logs so far this year.
