LLJMBER MERCHANT THE CALIFORNIA

Jack Dionne, Publisher

REED PONTEN Mcncging Editor Rooms

Subscription Price, $3,00 per Yeqr

Single Copies, 25 cents each

Incorporcted uader ihe lcws oI Cclilornic I. C. Diome, Prea. and Trecg'; I. E' Mcrtin, Vice Pres.; M. Adcms, Secrelcry Publighed the lsl and lSth oI eqch month crl

How Lumber Looks

Overproduction is still reflected in Crow's Lumber Price Index of August 9, with a dip in Standard & Btr. green l)ouglas fir.diurension and a sharp fall-bff in No. 3 common ponderosa pine boartls. Sawnri'll shutdowns were occulring more frerluently ir-r the fir .antl pine regions. Green fir boards weie slow rnovers- excelx in Uti-litl' gradc. -fhere were some price-drops in kiln-driecl Standard .& 9t.. iiinrension, also in upper -gracles, but lower grades of rlly lumbcr n'ere steady; u'hite fir dimension, off slight1y, rcflcctcd the drop ttr ureerr. ['lvw,,url lrcld fairlv wc]l on official lists but sotttc deals were ieuortc,l ircing rrrade under both list prices lot t/a"-1-l) attd /r," CD Ciow's cr('ss-cuuntr]' phone survey show'ed little advance buying to beat the Aug. 26 freight-rate increases. The new FHA lower-downpaynrent scliedules were expected to help lun.r.ber but not until the h.it of the I'ear Western Oregon log prices softened in some areas and the .lernand for Douglas fir poles continuecl slow. Numerous mill closings (and more pending), strikes affecting,California construction anil the east, the freight-rate hikes and ineffectiveness of the new housing bill in stirnulating construction all contributed to a gloomy picture -ior the forest-products industry in tlte immediate rutufe.

Lumber shipments of 490 mills rel)orting to the National Lumber Manufactureri Assn. in the week encling August 3 were 10.4/o above lrroductiorr but new orclers were 7.4/o below. For the year-to-date, iro*..r"., shipmetrts ancl orders were both above production by 1.0/o and 1.8%. respectively.

Shipments bt t::,rjtS,OSO feet were 18.1/o above production at 165 rnills reporting (114 operating) to the West Coast Lumbermen's Assn. in the rveek entling August 3; orders ol 93,988,282 feet were 9..5/o lreloi',' procluction. For tl're year-to-date, orders were 0.4/o a:nd

Wetcome

In this issue, u'e \\'elc()me these neu' advertisers int<r the iamily of California Lumber "N'Ierchant-isers": shionrents 0.J7o over productiou. . The weekly avcrage of west cojst lurlber'production during July was 141,585,000 board feet, WCLA Secretary Harris E. Srnith reportecl for the L)ouglas [t :qy- rnill region; ortlers averaged 154,878,000 b.f. and shiprr-r'ents 15'1,358'000 b.f. The industry's unlilled order file stood at 620,09'1,000 b f. at the end of lulv, sross stocks at 1,072,032,040 b.l'

Orders oi x7,51+.tttt0 feet were 3.7/o, and shipments of 90,784,000 feet were 7.0/o above production at 122 mills reportin5 to the-Western Pine Association in the week ending Jul-t' 27 as ot'clct's clinlbed 8.57o above the previous week.

Orclers dropped 27.7% below production of 107,415,000 fcet in the week ending August 3, and 9.1/o below the previous week, repor.ted the Douglas Fir Plywood Assn., but were 3/o higher than the-sinrilar 1956 rveek. Production, which dropped' 5.7% from the July 27 vveek, was 7.4/a above the 1956 week. Jobber itrveutories cluring June -rose for the hrst time in three months, 6.4/o above I{a1-, r,eported a l)un & Bradstreet survey of 188 warehouses; this represented a twonronths suppiy.