- A journey to the heart of the lumber shortage.
"...That morning, the price of lumber futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange surged above $1,500 for the first time, a 300 percent rise from this time last year.
Two-by-fours are suddenly very, very expensive, sending the cost of building a new home up by about $36,000 on average, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Lumber companies are reporting record profits.
...But the case of lumber supply is a little more perplexing.
True, shipments from Canadian forests, which contribute about one-third of U.S. lumber consumption, have been constrained by tariffs, beetle infestations, and wildfires.
But there is plenty of wood on both sides of the border, and fast-growing pine in the U.S. South is actually cheaper than it’s been in two decades...Read all.
