Andrew Hecht

Lumber is hardly a commodity for trading, but it is an important staple to watch when it comes to the price trend of the market. Lumber, like ferrous and nonferrous metals, minerals, and energy is an essential for construction around the world. Since 1972, the price of lumber has traded from a low of $94.60 per 1,000 board feet in 1974 to a high of $493.50 in 1993. At the same time, while the staple commodity has experienced its ups and downs within the trading range over more than four decades, the price had been making higher lows from 1974 through 2001. Population wealth grow around the world have caused the competition for staple and finite commodities to increase which is why lumber found support during periods of selling, but a shock to the system in 2008 changed that, briefly.