Bring The Wood
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The price of lumber has sky-rocketed. Seems simple, just supply and demand, right?
Well, maybe not so fast...Landowners aren't getting rich and neither are loggers. Check out the website for some recent prices on pine stumpage...
http://www.timbermart-south.com/prices.html
Now, consider that back in around 1999-2000, those same pine trees were selling for $40-$45/ton. That's $20 more per ton, 21 years ago. And those were bigger dollars. A 1999 dollar is worth $1.59 today, so the price back then in today's dollars would have been $71.55/ton.
Funny, if you talk to people in the mill business, I'm starting to hear of yard stockpiles that haven't been seen in years, possibly decades. Yet, a lot of the Borgs are short of lumber.
I know that there is a lot of building ramping up this spring. There usually are more houses started in the spring, because of the weather. Yes, this year is more than most because of pent-up demand...But I'm wondering...Did the Stimulus create an artificial shortage that the big money is taking advantage of? Even after there is no shortage, but that which is created?
