VANCOUVER, BC — Doman Building Materials announced that it has acquired South Carolina-based CM Tucker Lumber Companies… for a base purchase price of US$255 million in cash. …Founded in 1920, Tucker Lumber is headquartered in Pageland, South Carolina, employing 425 personnel across three locations. The Pageland facility is vertically integrated, comprising a specialty sawmill, dry kilns, treating plants, remanufacturing operations and distribution facilities. Treating plants located in Henderson, North Carolina and Rock Hill, South Carolina provide added capacity and capabilities to quickly service Eastern U.S. markets. Tucker Lumber offers a comprehensive variety of products, including treated lumber and plywood, decking, deck posts, balusters, spindles, handrails, step stringers, step treads, fence panels, fence pickets, round fence posts and split rail fencing. …The Transaction was completed on October 1, 2024, and is not subject to any further regulatory or shareholder approvals or consents.
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON — U.S. dock workers and port operators reached a tentative deal that will immediately end a crippling three-day strike that has shut down shipping on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast, the two sides said Thursday. The tentative agreement is for a wage hike of around 62% over six years. …That would raise average wages to about $63 an hour from $39 an hour over the life of the contract. The union had been seeking a 77% raise while the employer group had previously raised its offer to nearly 50%. …The union and the port operators said in a statement that they would extend their master contract until Jan. 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all outstanding issues. …Among key issues that remain unresolved is automation that workers say will lead to job losses. The port strike hit just as southeastern states were struggling for supplies following a deadly hurricane.
PHILADELPHIA — 
The longstanding trade dispute between the U.S. and Canada over softwood lumber has hinged on a critical factor: the substitutability of lumber products. A recent study by…
MADISON — Effective Oct. 1, Hancock Lumber began the “indefinite curtailment of production at the company’s Madison Lumber Mill location and consolidation of that business into its Casco, Bethel, and Pittsfield mill operations,” according to a statement issued by the company on Wednesday. Erin Plummer, chief marketing officer for Hancock Lumber, said the Madison log yard will remain open to help support the procurement of eastern white pine. “This decision is in response to site-specific challenges and changing market conditions,” said Plummer, based out of the Hancock’s Casco, Maine office. She said “Hancock Lumber remains committed to the forest products industry as it has since 1848.” Hancock purchased Madison Lumber in October 2022. A source emailed the Sun on Wednesday, saying that “they have completely shut down the sawmill.”
A looming unknown is the potential impact from the European Union’s deforestation regulation (EUDR). If this policy requirement is implemented as currently planned on December 30, 2024, it will cause total trade chaos in world markets. Simply put, many countries will not be ready to meet the stringent requirements of the policy. While the markets may be lacklustre for the rest of 2024, the EUDR could quickly change it all with the potential of huge dislocations in global trade flows. …A quick pro-forma analysis on the lumber revenue versus the costs of lumber production of four major producing regions in North America plus Central Europe yields a very clear story. …The results are essentially negative in all regions of North America given their higher costs. …Permanent mill closures at high-cost mills have also been occurring in BC, the US Pacific Northwest regions and the US South. 
The softwood lumber market’s reaction to last week’s encouraging economic news remained moderate at best. Demand was steady in most species, but news of reduced interest rates fell far short of jump-starting sales. As a whole, prices wavered and the Random Lengths Framing Lumber Composite Price dropped $1 for the second consecutive week. Western S-P-F sales were unspectacular. …Lumber futures surged early in the week, but the board gave back on Wednesday. The front month continued to carry a premium to the physical market, affording some traders basis opportunities. Hurricane Helene’s approach through the Gulf of Mexico interrupted an otherwise steady Southern Pine market. Buyers covered mostly immediate needs in early trading and scaled back new orders as the week progressed. …A perception that recent curtailments across the South had aligned supplies more closely with demand infused a firmer tone into the market.
In September, mortgage rates maintained their downward trajectory, returning to levels last seen two years ago. According to Freddie Mac, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 6.18%, a decline of 32 basis points (bps) from August. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage saw an even steeper decline, decreasing by 42 bps from August to 5.26%. Additionally, the 10-year Treasury rate declined by 23 bps, falling from 3.98% in August to 3.75%. According to the NAHB forecast, the 30-year mortgage rate is expected to near 6% on a sustained basis by the end of 2024, with a further decline to just below 6% during 2025. NAHB also predicts furthering easing by the Federal Reserve before the end of 2024.
Southern Pine dimension mills have attempted to keep supplies more in line with sluggish lumber demand in recent months, but perceptions remain mixed whether it has ultimately been effective in tempering downward price pressure. Several mills reportedly curtailed production through the summer months without making public announcements to indicate cutbacks. Most of the measures were modest, often limited in scope to simply reducing shifts, according to sources. …Production curtailments by Western S-P-F mills have also contributed to rebalancing supplies and demand, as buyers in northern-tier markets who purchase both species have encountered dwindling availability. However, some SYP traders are unsure whether the quiet production cutbacks have had any true effect on the overall market. New mills in some producing zones came online in early summer and ramped up output.
Two clean energy projects are underway in Sequim and Port Angeles, aided by funding obtained from the state Department of Commerce. These projects will help reduce byproduct waste for the Composite Recycling Technology Center (CRTC) and aid in construction of an independent microgrid for the Clallam County Public Utility District (PUD) No. 1. The CRTC will use about two-thirds of its $437,000 grant to buy equipment that can repurpose wood byproducts resulting from housing kit production. The remaining one-third will go to the Makah Tribe, which will also use the funds to reduce wood byproducts… The CRTC thermally modifies the lumber, which collapses the wood and removes much of the moisture, resulting in pressure-treated wood without the use of chemicals.
The European Union’s chief negotiator on a United Nations compact to reverse biodiversity loss denies postponement of anti-deforestation law undermines credibility just weeks ahead of crunch summit in Colombia. The European Commission’s proposal to delay implementation of the Deforestation Regulation will not undermine the EU’s position in upcoming UN biodiversity talks, its lead negotiator has claimed, saying the postponement was a recognition that further preparatory work with trading partners was needed. The 16th conference of parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity later this month will be the first since the landmark COP15 in Montreal two years ago that yielded an agreement to place 30% of land and sea under conservation status by 2030. Environmental groups were outraged when the EU yielded to pressure for a delay to the law, which requires proof that no forests were cleared in the production of a range of goods from coffee to beef and timber.
As the gap between burned areas and replanting widens year after year, scientists see big challenges beyond where to put seedlings. The U.S. currently lacks the ability to collect enough seeds from living trees and the nursery capacity to grow seedlings for replanting on a scale anywhere close to stemming accelerating losses, researchers say. It also doesn’t have enough trained workers to plant and monitor trees. The Forest Service said the biggest roadblock to replanting on public land is completing environmental and cultural assessments and preparing severely burned areas so they’re safe to plant. That can take years — while more forests are lost to fire… 
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You’ve probably heard that the Biden administration’s signature climate law, the 
