Quality Redwood

BTISS & GATES LUMBER

Wesfern Pine First Qucrrter Shipments, Producrion Off

Portlrrnd. Xlarch 30-The report oi f irst quarter 1957 prodrrctir.rrr and shipments of \\'estern l'ine l{egion lumlrer products ar-rcl estimate clf probable sec<ind quarter shipments, releasecl today bv \\'. E. Griffee, :rssistant secretary'manager o[ the \\-esterr-r ]'ine .'\ssociation, saicl production oi lnmbcr in the \Arestern I'ine region drrring the first quarter of this year is estir.natccl ztt 1174 rnillion board feet, lO.7'/, belol the first qtlarte r ,,f 19.56. Shipmcnts during the quarter u,ere l5!11 million feet. <k.ru-n 10.8/o fronr last year's Iirst quarter. Stocks u'ere reduced 117 million fcet <luring the c1u:irter. 'I'hcir estimate<1 r'olrrrne of 1986 million feet at the end of thc qrlarter is 313 n-rillion above a vear:rgo. The largest stock increases are in pon<lerosa pine, Dougllrs fir and larch.

"'fhere still has lreen no effectile golernment actlorl to boost the rate of resiclential ccrnstructiorr. The (r2,500 uriits of private housing started in February u-ere at a seasonallyarijrrsted :rnnnal r:rte of onll' 910.000 rrnits, the lcirvest since NIav 19.19. I-ast year rLt this time the nrrmber of housing starts, seasonally adjusted, u'as still hol<1ing u'ei1 abovc 1.100.000 nnits per year. These latest figrrrcs on home builrling actir,itv are exl)ecte<l to tonch off a ncu'u'ave oi t1cmancls for governrnent lr()\'cs to arrest the slrrmP. llos'errer, anv such action is unlikclv to be reflected in lumber demanrl for ser-eral rnonths. .\t least, the rate rif home builcling shoulcl not rlrop much iarther," said the report.

"Compared with the rate of housing starts, th,e lumber industry's recent performance is distinctly encour- aging. The Western Pine industry's shipments should continue to hold up better than home construction. Industrial use of lumber is still clos,e to the peak reached last winter. Consumption for fruit and vegetable shook should be a little better than in 1956. Home modernization and repair continues to increase. Nearly all retailers must have worked off any excess stocks they were holding when home building began to drop off. "llased uporr stich factors and all other available infornratiorr nlror-r prospcctir.e clemanci. it u'orrld seem problrlrle that, rltrring the secontl cluarter oi 19it7, shipments (consunrption) of 1un-rlrer from the \\-esterrr I'ir.re region u'il1 appro,rimate 1950 million l:eet, or alr<.rr.rt 11tlo ltelou' the reallr. excellent r-olrrme of shipmerrts rlurir-rg the -seconcl cluzLrter of 1956," the report conclr-rded.