B.C. lumber producers are accustomed to boom and bust cycles, but the past two years have been astonishingly volatile. …Amid tightening supplies from BC, North American lumber markets are headed for a third consecutive year of wild price swings, though forecasters don’t expect an encore of the record highs in 2021. …Lumber prices rose US$75 last week to reach US$1,120 – nearly tripling over the past five months. …Lumber prices in 2022 are forecast to remain much higher than prepandemic levels in 2019 [but] analysts are skeptical that the momentum of robust U.S. housing starts will carry into 2022. On the supply side, a key factor is the B.C. government’s plans to defer logging in the most at-risk old-growth forests. …CIBC analyst Hamir Patel raised his forecast for the average price for Western SPF to US$725 for 1,000 board feet in 2022. …Raymond James analyst Daryl Swetlishoff envisages prices averaging US$585 in 2022, while RBC analyst Paul Quinn estimates US$675. [to access the full story a Globe & Mail subscription may be required]