U.S. sawmill capacity rises but production remains flat

U.S. sawmills continue to operate well below their potential, even as industry capacity remains near multi-year highs. New analysis from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), drawing on the Federal Reserve’s G.17 Industrial Production report, shows output stuck at levels little changed from recent years, held back by weak housing demand, subdued prices and structural constraints. The sawmill utilisation rate — actual output as a share of full production capacity, published quarterly by the United States Census Bureau — has trended downward since 2017 as capacity expanded faster than production. In the second quarter of 2025 ...