North America’s sawmills can’t keep up with demand, which has sent wood prices on a meteoric rise. Don’t expect new mills to start popping up though. Executives in the cyclical business of sawing logs into lumber said they… aren’t racing out to build new mills, which can cost hundreds of millions dollars and take two years to build. In doing so they are breaking with conventional wisdom in the commodities business, which states that the cure for high prices is high prices. …Mill companies including Weyerhaeuser and West Fraser have set nine-figure budgets to boost efficiency and output at their existing mills, particularly in the South where there is a glut of cheap pine timber. Some forest-products executives said they are considering acquisitions. But there aren’t many new mills on the drawing board. …US lumber-making capacity has risen about 11% over the past five years, according to FEA. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access may require a subscription]