J.E.HIGGNS LLMBER COMPANY

1399 Ygnacio Valley Road. PO. Drawer HL Walnut Creek. CA 9,1598 Tel: (-115) 938-9300

The effects of expensive and increasingly scarce money for home building are continuing to sock it to all connected with this important American industry. .stoppages, cut-backs, layoffs and reductions have suddenly become common, with bright spots few and far between.

Only export sales of lumber, the repair & remodeling market and some areas of commercial and industrial appear strong. whether these areas can take up the s/ack from the loss of the recently booming home bldg. industry is the $64 question. .

With the prime lending rate widely forecast to hit 200ft and the prime home loan rate as high as 1806 at some lending institutions, coupled with the smallest net inflow of savings at s&ls in Feb. since '70, builders and home remodel groups have been in D.C., hammering at the politicians for help (see p. 32). . some predict the worst housing recession since WWII. .

Seasonally adjusted housing start figs. for Feb. (most recent) were 1,334.000 units, the lowest rate since Dec. '7i and 9.20/o below the year earlier. single family starts were off 23.lolt from the mo. previous: 22.40/o below a year ago...multifamily rates were up 3404, puzzling the bean counters, who were at a loss to explain the increase. .

A variety of new mortgage and other financing methods are being tried in an attempt to bring housing to the market at an affordable price.. So. Calif. construction industry and union leaders plan to invest $100 million or more per mo. in area bldg. loans from their huge pension fund reserves. lndustry and gov. have ok'd final plans for a 3-year study on u,ood dust's e./.t'ect on workers. . , The Conference Board reports that consumer confidence dropped in Feb. for the 4th mo. in a row. a record 296 million wood pallets were produced in '79.

Sawmill and plywood plant curtailments and closures are widespread scrass the West: Potlatch has closed 6 operations in ld.. Weyerhaeuser has buttoned a no. of Western facilities, including its big Klamath Falls, Or., mill. . Georgia-Pacific plans to cut '80 spending on plant and equipment by 254h. .

Inlancl LumberCo. has closed its Woodland, Ca., distribution center, consolidating its inventories at its Colton, Ca., Hq., and moving most of those people to other company offices. Woodland mgr. Rick Kellso has been pronroted to director of trading. consolidating buying for the Colton Hq.. and the Dublin, Ca., and Portland offices. .

Cal-Paci.fic M.fg,, Arcata, plans to sell its Trinity County (Ca.) sawmill, close its facilities in Blue Lake and Hoopa, Ca., and limit its Orick, Ca., mill to chip productiont poor markets and high log costs were blamed.I.

Sunrise Forest Praducts and Merrill Lynch Co. (parent co. of WoodMarkets. Inc.) have agreed to Sunrise acquiring certain assets; Sunrise reportedly plans to form a new div.. which will Hq. in Birmingham, Al.. operating under the Steel City Lumber Co. name.

R-W Specialties, Inc., Denver, has opened a new warehouse in Crand Junction, Co., with more acres purchased for development in '81; the new location will serve the western slope of the Rockies & parts of Ut., Wy., N.M. & A2....

Wickes and Gamble-Skosmo have revised their tentative merger plans. Diamond International and Brooks-Scanlon are still ironing out merger terms . . . financier Victor Posner has acquired 506 of Evans Products Co....

Jarms Hsrdu'ore, Cheney. Wa.,has expanded to 14,000 sq. ft. from 6,500 sq. ft. The Terry Building Centers, Tarzana, Ca., has purchased Andreu's Lumber Co., Chatsworth, Ca.; plans for its future use are indefinite. ..Pay 'n Pak has opened a new store in Aberdeen. Wa...

M.F. Tomsick LuntberCo. is a new Richland, Wa.. wholesaler, speciafizing in cedar. Cascade EmpireCorp. is the new name of American International Industrial Forest Products, Portland. . llood Traders, Inc. has moved to new Eugene, Or., offices.

Fullmer Lumber Co. has moved its offices to a new I 1.000 sq. ft. bldg. it bought in ' Tigard. Or.l mailing address stays the same. North Star Forest Products has moved from Danville, Ca.. to new offices in Walnut Creek. . Hagle Lumber Co. is now in new offices in

(Please turn to pase 74)