THE CALIFOR}-IIA LUMBERMERCHANT fackDionne,ptblislw, How Iumber Looks

Lumber production oI 5D mills reporting to the National Lumber Trade Barometer in the week ended July 16 u'as 55/n ab<>ve the corresponding rveek in 1954; shipments were 56.9/n and nerv orders were 17.3/o above. Compared with the previous rveek ended July 9, production was 47.4%, shipments n.l% and orders 24/o higher. Lumber shipments oI 507 reporting mills in the holiday rveek ended July 9 were l8/o above production; nerv orders were 26.3% above.

National lumber production of an estimated 3,424,000,000 board feet in May exceeded April outputby 6/o and was 3/o above May 1954, reports the National Lumber Manufacturers Assn. Softwood shipments and nerv orders were both very close to the level of production; hardu'ood shipments exceeded production by 9% and orders rvere l0/o above output. For the first five months of 1955, estimated production totaled 15,809,000,000 feet.

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Fir plyrvoocl output is expected to reach 7.5 billion square feet a 1'ear s.itirin the next 10 years, W. E. Difford told the I'lyrvood Golden Jubilee; this rvould double the 3.9 produced in 1954. To help sell the increase, the DFPA head called for "dream panels" such as one capable of being rvrapped around four sides of a house in as little as eight minutes. He also indicated he has conferred with railroad officials on the possibility of building larger cars to carry panels 48 feet long, six times the now standard length. Read the details in the Jubilee story on Page L2.

The West Coast Luml>ermen's Assn. reported f.or 177 mil1s (147 operating) in the rveek ended July 16: produ'ction, 106,704,104 feet; shipments, 116,410,492 teet (9.1/o over prodnction) ; orders, 1I5,631,344 feet (8.4/o over production). In the week ended July 9, 129 operating mills reported production 68,089,725 feet, shipments 90,359,224 feet, and orclers 99,644,124 feet.

The u.eekly average of u,est coast lumber prodnction in June u'as 188,568,000 b.f., reports Harris E. Smith, secretary WCLA. Orders averaged 199,844,000 b.f.; shipments 204,9(18,000 b.f. Six months of 1955 cumulative production rvere 5,057,157,000 b.f., compared to 4,795,305,W0 in the lirst six months <tf 1954. At the end of June, the industry's (Continued on l'age 42)