How to boost western lumber sales

lltHERE will the opportunities

UU lie in coming years for retailers who sell western softwood lumber products? Though no one can accurately predict where the markets will be, a look at the trends of the past decade will provide some direction.

Current domestic markets for all softwood lumber species include residential construction, non-residential construction, repair and remodeling, materials handling, and other items such as railroads, mining and furniture.

In 1987, repair and remodeling accounted for 30% of all market demand. New residential construction, the traditional leader, took 350/o for the same year. For comparison, totals for 1977 were l8% and 460/o respectively.

Non-residential construction was the one category showing a slight decline in 1987.

Overall, western species currently provide about 56% of all softwood lumber supplies from domestic sources. Of that total, the West Coast region accounts for 450/0, with the balance coming from the Inland region. The percentage of supplies from the Coast and Inland has been relatively unchanged for the past 10 years.

Hem-fir and Ponderosa pine rank second and third for that same year, totaling 4.41 and 4.08 billion feet respectively.

Douglas firllarch is the most produced species, totaling 10.68 billion board feet in 1987. It has steadily increased in production since the recession lows of the earlv 1980s.

Story at a Glance

A quick run down on western lumber use and consumption and how that can aid you in market strategy planning.

The overall product mix of the western species has been changing. Dimension lumber has shown the greatest increase. Since the late 1970s, the production of western dimension lumber has risen roughly 550/0. It currently accounts for slightly more than one-half of all western lumber products.

For that same time period, commons, studs, and shop have risen slightly. Production of timbers and selects has remained about the same.

WE SELL BYTHE PIECE...OR THE LOAD

A VARIETY OF *TREATED FOREST PRODUCTS ARE IN STOCK FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE USE:

*TREATED FOR GROUND CONTACT WITH CHROMATED COPPER ARSENATE.