# Oregon log prices hit rock bottom, mills cut back



## forestryworks (Mar 3, 2009)

ASTORIA — The timber market on the North Coast has deteriorated to the point where 
industry experts say they don’t even know how much a log is worth anymore.

How can you put a price on something nobody wants?

The depressed housing market has stunted demand for lumber, leaving just a trickle 
of business for local sawmills and little reason for loggers to harvest additional 
timber in Clatsop County.

Local sawmills have curtailed operations while the market slumps, sending workers 
home for weeks at a time while the industry waits for a recovery.

But aside from some hope for construction triggered by federal stimulus funds, 
there’s no reprieve in sight.

“It’s brutal,” said Jay Browning, owner of J.M. Browning Logging in Knappa and a 
companion trucking business. “I really have to wonder about my company. Where will 
my company be a year from now?”

Browning said his payroll went from $1 million a month at its peak to $170,000 
last month. He’s had to lay off around 90 people.

“In the last four months, we’ve worked maybe four weeks,” he said. “We bought a 
lot of equipment in the last year to clean up all the storm damage. Now, not all 
the storm damage is going to get cleaned up because the price of lumber is less 
than the manufacturing cost of the logs out there.”

But as tough as it is to be a logger right now, Browning said, it’s even tougher 
owning a sawmill.

“It’s a very, very difficult market,” said Steve Zika, chief executive officer of 
Hampton Affiliates, which owns a sawmill in Tillamook. “We have not experienced 
anything like this before.”

Hampton is taking a lot of down time at its mills but hasn’t announced any permanent 
closures.

Mills on the South Coast have taken week-long downtimes starting the end of 2008 and 
continuing into this year.

“We’re balancing our supply against demand,” said Weyerhaeuser spokesman Greg Miller 
about the company’s Warrenton sawmill. “The marketplace is significantly off. We’ll 
continue to ship lumber orders and a small amount of the work force will remain on 
hand for shipments.”

He could not comment on the long-term viability of the mill. In recent months 
Weyerhaeuser has announced permanent closures of several mills in the region, 
including one in Aberdeen, Wash.

With so few mills buying logs at all, the value of trees in the ground is virtually nil.

“Right now I doubt you could get a price from anybody because very few mills are taking 
logs at this time,” said Ty Williams, a unit forester for the Oregon Department of 
Forestry’s Astoria District. “The markets are flooded. All the wholesalers, their 
warehouses are full. Mill yards are at capacity. They can’t take any more logs in their 
yards. They’re starting to stack up in the woods. It’s real bleak.”

The department is putting extra effort into marketing timber for utility poles, which 
could see a bump in demand as federal stimulus money funds more infrastructure and clean 
energy projects.

Utility pole timber has a much higher value than lumber, but it’s also held to higher 
standards of size and shape.

Only 15 percent of the available volume in the Clatsop State Forest will meet utility 
pole specifications, said Williams.

The Astoria District had planned to auction a timber stand in March.

“I don’t know whether it will sell or not,” Williams said.


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## Cedarkerf (Mar 3, 2009)

forestryworks said:


> ASTORIA — The timber market on the North Coast has deteriorated to the point where
> industry experts say they don’t even know how much a log is worth anymore.
> 
> How can you put a price on something nobody wants?
> ...



Doug fir is worth more as firewood now than as saw logs.


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## Cletuspsc (Mar 3, 2009)

Seems like its bad all over. . . . I havent cut a stick in about a month now. Thers just no market right now, our pine and hemlock are still movin but not for near what its worth. With the hard wood unless its a veneer log its almost better to thow it in the firewood pile right now.


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## tomtrees58 (Mar 3, 2009)

wow thats bad tom trees


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## Billy_Bob (Mar 4, 2009)

Well maybe that explains why I saw 10 log trucks backed up waiting to unload at the Santiam mill near Lebanon yesterday!

Maybe because there is a SALE and they are stocking up while the prices are low?

Seems to me with the government's stimulus package in the works, there will be a lot of construction activity in the near future. And this will equal a need for more lumber.

If I owned a mill, I would be buying all the logs I could get right now (cheap price)...


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## Burvol (Mar 4, 2009)

I sure hope this stim bill helps. There is tons of work around me, just no market....So we wait until there is.


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## Billy_Bob (Mar 4, 2009)

In the past, I've been dead set against "pork spending" by the government on all sorts of silly unnecessary things.

But at this point in time, I think it is necessary to get things going again. The FED Chairman thinks the same, which is interesting because bean counter types tend to be of a cost cutting nature.

FED Chairman Story...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/us/politics/04budget.html?_r=1


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## Haywire Haywood (Mar 4, 2009)

and while this is going on in the pnw, the local Lowes is full of imported German 2x4s. The gov't shouldn't have to force them to do the right thing, but it looks like they need to.

Ian

Edit.. have you written your senators and reps about this? I just did.


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## ak4195 (Mar 4, 2009)

Billy_Bob said:


> Well maybe that explains why I saw 10 log trucks backed up waiting to unload at the Santiam mill near Lebanon yesterday!
> 
> Maybe because there is a SALE and they are stocking up while the prices are low?
> 
> ...



I think there will be a bump up,but dont expect gangbusters.That was primarily driven by the housing boom and Iraq reconstruction.Both legs of that stool are pulled out.I suspect supply will easily overwhelm demand for some time to come.
Imo,this is a bad time to stand around like a deer in the headlights.

 good luck
ak4195


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## windthrown (Mar 4, 2009)

:welcome:

Been like this for over a year now. They do not mention the export log market, which is the only thing happening for logging in the PNW.


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## thejdman04 (Mar 4, 2009)

Seems like the log markets are down, grain markets are down, the hurt is wide spread. While hilary clinton is over in gahna pledgeing 900 million us dollars to help rebuild that country we are over here hurting.


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## Roadscholarcurt (Mar 5, 2009)

*log prices*

I live in the nw and should be in the market for logs in a few months. Wanted to know what would be a good price to offer in this down economy.

thanks
Roadscholarcurt


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## windthrown (Mar 5, 2009)

Pond prices for logs in Oregon: 

http://oregon.gov/ODF/STATE_FORESTS/TIMBER_SALES/logpage.shtml

Dunno about WA state.


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## Humptulips (Mar 6, 2009)

windthrown said:


> Pond prices for logs in Oregon:
> 
> http://oregon.gov/ODF/STATE_FORESTS/TIMBER_SALES/logpage.shtml
> 
> Dunno about WA state.



I heard yesterday $230 for #1 hemlock sawlogs. Pretty depressing.


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## booboo (Mar 11, 2009)

Cletuspsc said:


> Seems like its bad all over. . . . I havent cut a stick in about a month now. Thers just no market right now, our pine and hemlock are still movin but not for near what its worth. With the hard wood unless its a veneer log its almost better to thow it in the firewood pile right now.



Around here some hemlock and hardwood pulp is moving. Hardwood saw logs are way down, can't sell white pine at all. Low grade hardwood logs are going onto people's firewood processors, they are worth more as firewood than as logs or pulp. One local pine mill's yard is stacked full and a small local hardwood mill hasn't sawed in probably a month. It's tough all around. A forester friend of mine and I were chatting last week and he doesn't see any significant turn around for at least a year. Not complaining though, at least I still have work...


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## Zodiac45 (Mar 11, 2009)

booboo said:


> Around here some hemlock and hardwood pulp is moving. Hardwood saw logs are way down, can't sell white pine at all. Low grade hardwood logs are going onto people's firewood processors, they are worth more as firewood than as logs or pulp. One local pine mill's yard is stacked full and a small local hardwood mill hasn't sawed in probably a month. It's tough all around. A forester friend of mine and I were chatting last week and he doesn't see any significant turn around for at least a year. Not complaining though, at least I still have work...



That's how I see it too. Work wise, up here, people have always had too have their fingers in a few different pies. For the first time in maybe 5 years I may have too go fishing (lobstering) with my neighbor this summer. It's always been my backup work too earn a few bucks whenever I needed and there's another industry that's in the crapper at the moment. I can sure pick em!


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## windthrown (Mar 12, 2009)

I really do not know of any industry around here that is not in the crapper, except health care. Its pretty bleaque.


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## Gologit (Mar 12, 2009)

windthrown said:


> I really do not know of any industry around here that is not in the crapper, except health care. Its pretty bleaque.



Yup...down here the only growth industries are law enforcement, drug/alcohol counseling, and mental health care. :greenchainsaw:


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## Jacob J. (Mar 12, 2009)

Gologit said:


> Yup...down here the only growth industries are law enforcement, drug/alcohol counseling, and mental health care. :greenchainsaw:



Don't forget prostitution.


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## Gologit (Mar 13, 2009)

Jacob J. said:


> Don't forget prostitution.



LOL...I stand corrected.


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## olyman (Mar 13, 2009)

thejdman04 said:


> Seems like the log markets are down, grain markets are down, the hurt is wide spread. While hilary clinton is over in gahna pledgeing 900 million us dollars to help rebuild that country we are over here hurting.


And why cant more people see the hypocrist of nearly ALL government officials, at ALL levels.They are the problem causers, not the problem solvers. Typical leftist idea, throw money at the problem, it will go away.


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## windthrown (Mar 13, 2009)

Jacob J. said:


> Don't forget prostitution.



You got that right. I was on a Widmir beer boat cruise in Portland last night (all the free beer I could drink, man am I hung over today). Anyway, there were these hotties on board, and giving out these gold business cards. My brother's GF looked at them and said, "Oh them... they're hookers."


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## slowp (Mar 13, 2009)

Hmmph. I was in Portland all week and everybody wanted change. I argued with the guy who wanted to save the Polar Bears, told the enthusiastic girl that I already helped the environment, and the others who wanted change, no. There must be a lot of vending machines in downtown Portland. 

Lots of kids with petitions to save all sorts of critters there. Except for people. Well, maybe the "Got any spare change?" people were out to save people?


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## redprospector (Mar 13, 2009)

I dug out my old band saw mill a couple of months ago. Got her all spiffed up, and have been trying to saw up my stock pile of logs. Lumber ain't moving too good either, but if it ever breaks loose I'll have a :censored: load to sell.
It has been putting a few beans on the table, but I'd rather be out in the woods.

Andy


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## Billy_Bob (Mar 14, 2009)

slowp said:


> Hmmph. I was in Portland all week and everybody wanted change...




For the "Got any spare change?" kids, I have a solution to that. They will typically be sitting down on the sidewalk and I can see them a mile away.

Before they can ask me, I ask them! I say "Got any spare change?"

They looked shocked and say "I was just going to ask you!"


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## Roadscholarcurt (Mar 14, 2009)

*contacting loggers in the NW*

Thanks for the reply folks. 

Also wanted to know what is the best way to advertise for logs when I am ready to buy?

Was thinking maybe craigslist, but if there are other options, please let me know.

Roadscholar


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## Humptulips (Mar 19, 2009)

Hemlock saw logs down to $160 now. Can't go much lower.


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## Kicker_92 (Mar 19, 2009)

I'm looking to buy any high grade Douglas Fir logs here in Vancouver, BC, but am having a hard time finding anyone thats still cutting or hauling wood these days. Need a bunch at 24"+ x 12ft lengths, but even getting a load of shorts is tough.

Any suggestions?


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## windthrown (Mar 19, 2009)

No suggestions for logs in BC. I only saw alder logs on I-5 today, and a lot of logs being loaded onto ships going over the bridge at Longview, WA. I was all over the hills above Scapoose over toward North Plains and Vernonia, and I saw not a one logging truck up there. Never had that happen before. Not one truck up there in the hills. Did see an arborist truck with a chipper doing roadside cutting though. I guess that is something...

If I had trees now, I would let them grow and let the marketplace rot.


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## mtfallsmikey (Mar 20, 2009)

An outfit is logging bull pines for pulp across the road from me, hardwoods not moving much at all except old growth stuff. My sentiments go to all of you affected by the crap economy....


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