US plywood markets strengthen as prices rise 10–15% in four weeks, says major producer

After a long stretch of tough market conditions, the past four weeks have marked the strongest run of sales seen in nearly two years, according to US plywood producer Freres Engineered Wood. More importantly, those sales have come with meaningful price appreciation—something that has been difficult to achieve in the recent market environment. Coming out of winter, commodity plywood prices in the western United States remained at historically low mill levels, the company said. In many cases, pricing had been sitting below sustainable levels for producers, leaving very little margin to support continued operations. That landscape has shifted ...