THE CALIFOR}IIA LUMBERMERCHANT

How l.rumber lrooks

Portland, Oregon, September 1S-Records of a year's standing fell as Douglas fir sawmills of Washington and Oregon took an average of 182,709,000 board feet of lumbe: orders lr,'eekly during August, said H. V. Simpson, executive vice president of the \\rest Coast Lumbermen's Association. Not since August, 19'18, have West Coast fir mills been offered this volume of business.

A sharp upturn in demand increased unfilled order files of fir mills by nearly 100 million feet in August over July, Simpson said. Depleted retail lumber stocks throughout the country, now being filled to meet stepped-up home building and heavier industrial and public construction it.t the past 60 days were given credit for the improved market lr_v the lunTber leader.

A critical freight car shortage in the fir region, especially tight in Southern Oregon, served to curtail shipments ancl upped the gross stocks of mills some 36 million feet to 967,238,UN board feet for August. Production continued strong with August weekly averages totaling 167,260,000 board feet, best since May.

Simpson said total orders for the first 35 rveeks ol 1949 continued to lead both production and shipments. Orders of 5,597,000,000 board feet through August were 180 million feet over production for the same period and 155 million feet over shipments.

The weekly averag'e of West Coast lumber production irr Augtrst was 167,260,000 b.f. or lll.8/a of the 1943-1948 average. Orders averaged 182,709,W0 b.f.; Shipments 162,927,0N b.l. Weekly averages for July were; Production 125,090pn G3.6% of the 1943-1948 average). Orders 149,926,000 b.f.; Shipments 129,845,000 b.f.

Thirty-five weeks of 1949 cumulative production 5,418,880,000 b.f.; Thirty-five lveeks of 1948, 5,969,281,N0 b.f.; 'Ilrirty-five weeks of. 1947, 5,585,551,000.

Orders for thirty-five weeks of 7949 breakdown as follows: Rail 3,531,532,000 b.f.; Truck 264,032,000 b.f . Domestic Cargo 948,356,0U0 b.f.; Export 244,941,N0 b.f. Local 608,139,000.

The industry's unfilled order file stood at 572,987,0m b.f. at the end of August. Gross Stocks at967,238,0N.

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