Update: Lumber Prices Down Slightly YoY

Here is another monthly update on lumber prices.

SPECIAL NOTE: The CME group discontinued the Random Length Lumber Futures contract on May 16th. I’ve now switched to a new physically-delivered Lumber Futures contract that was started in August 2022.

Unfortunately, this impacts long term price comparisons since the new contract was priced about 24% higher than the old random length contract for the period both contracts were available.

This graph shows CME random length framing futures through last August (blue), and the new physically-delivered Lumber Futures (LBR) contract starting in August 2022 (Red).

LBR is currently at $530.50 per 1000 board feet, down 1% from $535.00 a year ago.

Click on graph for larger image.

There is somewhat of a seasonal demand for lumber, and lumber prices usually peak in April or May.

We didn’t see a significant runup in prices this Spring due to the housing slowdown.

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