Why mills don't think the price of lumber is too high

By Mark Junklns Mill Sales Manager McShan LumberCo.

GIINCE the buyer and the seller are often at odds over the LJvalue of any product in any market, the complaints we often hear about the "high" price of lumber are understandable. The saying "where you stand depends on wbere you sit" applies to mill sales people and lumber prnchasers. We rcalne you place a value on our product based on how much profit you can make from it. We place value on our product based on what we can get for it, but we arie also very much aware of what it costs tro make iL

Lumber to some people is swrething you talk about over the phone or numbers on a computer screen. Fm those of us who see it made every day though, it is a tangible item with a lot of work, sweat and capital in ir This is our story. Allow us to outline, in an abbreviated version, the steps involved in making apiece of hmber.

(l) First and fonemost, a tree has to grow for 25-30 years to make a saw log or 50 years to rrake a good grade log.

(2) A tract of timber has to be located. It is either offered to us or we approach the landowner.

(3) The timber then has to be cruised to deterrrine the volume. This means someone has to walk over every rETe of the tract whether it's 40 acres or 400.

(4) Once the volume has been determined, a price has o be negotiated, either directly with the landowner or through a sealed bid. Then timber is aclrally prnchased - often with a large lump sum paymenl The int€rest clock starts ticking.

(5) Next a logger has to be contmcted to haul it. Then the timber is cut, limbed, skidded to a loading ground, sorted by species and grade, loaded and hauled to the mill. If you've ever been in the woods in Alabama on a July morning, you have some appreciation of what this requires.

(6) At the mill logs are weighed or scaled and unloaded by some type of large, expensive equipment. They will either be stored or sent directly to the mill.

(7) In the mill the logs are precisely sawn into lumber by bandsaws, edgers, resaws and trimmen that re onuolled by lasers, optimizers and computers which take a trEmendous anount of energy to operate.

(t) Next the green lumber is sorted by thickness and properly stacked to go ino the dry kiln.

(9) Drying lumber is a fairty basic procedure but keep in mind that it requires mce en€rgy tro rnake it hrypen-

(f0) After the lumber is dried Foperty ir has io be rnken off sticks. Then it must be hauled to a sttrage ar€a io await dressing at the planer mill or it is taken directly to the planer mill.

(11) At the planer, the lunber is surfaced and graded. It's easy o fo'rget that grading hmber meiurs s6spss6g has to look at every piece.

(12) Aft€r it is dressed an<l packaged for shipnent, $e lu$er is smetimes held in invento'ry for a while, costing more interest. Then it is finally picked up one las time by another piece of expensive equipmenq loaded m tbe truck and invoice( and credit is extended to our ctstomer fo'r a few days before the lumber is acnrally orned into cash.

Please indulge tbe mill sales people when they omplain about dimension lumber prices falling. We're not a groucby bunch by natue. We've probably just talked to a logger who had o spend $1,500 for a skidder rire or heard from the timber folks about how we were beat by $50,000 <xl a tract of timber.

You nay not agrpe, but naybe this will put our side into perspective: at $520flV, a{2 2xl2xl6 will cosr you $16.64 per piece. This lumber would probably be ort from one of those 5O-year-old logs we mentioned. In a docent r€stauftmq a good steak, which would probably be cut frm an 18monthold steer, would also cost you arormd $16.64. Which should bave the most value?