Market Update: Plywood Market Analysis

The commodity plywood market has seen little change over the past month, continuing to grind along with mostly flat prices and modest reductions.

Pricing strategies vary from mill to mill, but most are barely selling their weekly production. They rely heavily on regular customers making just-in-time purchases. This cautious buying behavior is consistent across the entire commodity lumber and panel market.

Summer has kept the market in a state of limbo. Lean inventories mean customers must buy a measured amount of wood each week, leading to fierce competition among sellers. Recently, price adjustments have been minor, usually in the single digits. Many items are at or below breakeven for mills, leading to challenging times.

Dimension lumber markets have shown slight improvement, thanks to curtailments in production. However, most commodity panel prices remain in the lower 5% of yearly price ranges.

Buyers are leaning on suppliers for the best value due to tight margins. The outlook remains unchanged from a month ago: steady but limited demand, low inventories, tight margins, and a cautious economic outlook. The marketplace could use a boost from any positive developments.