Market Report: PNW Wood Products Market Outlook

It is a strange year when the PNW experiences 60-degree weather with little rain while the rest of the country experiences a solid cold front. One report indicated that Florida has seen more snowfall this year than Western Oregon. Harsh weather tends to dampen building as well as wood products manufacturing. 

At the tail end of poor market conditions, it is often difficult to recognize when markets begin to turn around, the indications can be subtle. Customers are still in the mode of minimizing risk by limiting inventories.

We are currently seeing two types of panels orders, those with known needs that are looking to hedge future pricing and orders placed for quick shipment. We are also seeing a ton of tire kicking from clients who previously purchased their panels from foreign sources but are now finding the religion of domestic supply.

Whether this is to limit tariff risk, currency exchange risk, or a newfound belief that local wood is good wood, this trend seems very real. If you are an importer of foreign wood products, I’d ask you to consider domestic wood, this doesn’t look like a short-term trend. When the weather clears, I think there is a possibility of more strength than the market is currently anticipating.

This is being borne out by discussions with other panel producers. Most say that order files are improving and have sought modest price increases in the short term. The industry is a bit tired of being underwater from logs to finished products and there seems to be a collective bowing of backs against additional price concessions. 

There have been massive changes in the PNW wood products markets over the last couple of years. In Oregon alone there have been seven mill closures or dramatic production decreases. Roseburg Forest Products announced last week that they were shedding 146 employees in a broad restructuring, bringing their total job losses to 400 since September. RFP has been one of our best customers in the past and we hope this restructuring is successful. Unfortunately, this leaves the entire industry on shaky ground wondering what the future holds and how we can all align our production towards redeveloping markets.

We are working diligently to expand our product mixes to capitalize on future market conditions. We will be installing a Raute Robotic putty line in the first quarter. We have been labor constrained when it comes to providing simple value-added services like Putty Touch Sanded panels for industrial and ag markets. The Robotic putty line, along with a newly installed 2-sided sander, will allow us to reenter a market that we have been only able to service with small volumes. Reach out if you are looking for repaired panels!

The Mass Timber market is improving considerably in 2026. The prefabricated warehouse space has been very compelling, providing warehouse space at equivalent cost to Pre-engineered Metal Building (PEMB) but with a truly exceptional aesthetic.

The other building type that is catching on is point-supported slab construction for multi-story multi-family. oWow looks to knock the multifamily space out of the ballpark with more multi-story buildings in 2026 after their successful installation of 1510 Webster. 

It has been tough to find optimism in the wood products markets in the last couple of years, but I think things are finally starting to turn around. I’m a firm believer that you just can’t keep American manufacturing down forever, there are just too many problem solvers here.