07 Sep Freres Lumber September Market Report: Construction Labor and Pricing Affect Plywood Demand

Posted at 16:07h in blog

September 10, 2018 Volatility Plagues Plywood Demand Plywood demand has been lackluster over the last few weeks. We had one big week of purchasing before things became quiet again. Typical customer feedback includes lack of available labor to complete projects and a slow adjustment to persistently high...

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27 Aug Freres Lumber August Market Update: Lumber and Panel Markets Recover

Posted at 16:38h in blog, Market Update

August 27, 2018 After a long and harsh June and July, the commodity markets for lumber and panels have experienced a turnaround in the past couple weeks, but not all at the same time. Suffice to say that most commodity items are stable, not going down...

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20 Aug MPP Case Study: A Spiral Staircase

Posted at 18:47h in blog, Company News

August 20, 2018 When we initially began constructing our engineered Mass Plywood Panel one question continually asked of us was, “What applications do you see your wood product used for in the future?” The answer always came back to, “The applications are only limited by the...

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13 Aug Freres Lumber August Market Report: Housing Starts, Transportation Issues, and Fire Season Affecting Markets

Posted at 16:06h in blog, Market Report

August 13, 2018 Housing starts affected by increased material prices Housing sales are up 2.4% over last year. Existing inventory of new homes sits at a very tight 4.3 months of inventory at current sales pace. Both rental prices and homes prices are moving up rapidly....

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07 Aug Mass Plywood Panel Certified by APA

Posted at 07:09h in blog, Company News

August 6, 2018 Freres Lumber Company is proud to announce that they have received structural certification for their patent-pending product, the Mass Plywood Panel (MPP), by the APA*- The Engineered Wood Association, under ANSI/APA PRG 320 standards. Freres Lumber is only the third U.S. producer to...

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30 Jul Freres Lumber July Market Update: Sputtering Western Plywood Markets Continue

Posted at 16:09h in blog, Market Update

July 30, 2018 Buying as needed until western plywood market increases pace. The western plywood markets continued to struggle throughout July, part of the larger price swoon by all commodity lumber and panel products that has gone on for almost two months. Depending on the item, most...

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16 Jul Brazilian Plywood Structural Panels Advisory Notice

Posted at 16:38h in blog, Industry News

July 16, 2018 The APA has just issued Product Advisory SP-1185 title,“Imported Plywood Panels from Brazil Evaluated for Conformance to US Product Standard PS 1-09 Requirements.” Testing conducted by the APA indicates that Brazilian plywood panels stamped as structural panels meeting PS 1-09, DO NOT MEET...

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09 Jul Freres Lumber July Market Report: The Starting Line of the Busy Buying Season

Posted at 16:54h in blog, Industry News

July 9, 2018 High Demand Predicts a Strong Buying Season We are now into the summer building season. The strong buying season for wood products typically doesn't start until July and runs until October when winter weather begins to dampen short-term expectations. This year has been a...

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02 Jul Representatives from Freres Lumber Visit Japanese Wood Products Manufacturers

Posted at 16:32h in blog, Company News

July 2, 2018 One of the best aspects of our industry is how open and inviting other producers are to visitors. It is a fact that in the wood products industry some of our fiercest competitors may also be our best customers, which encourages companies to...

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25 Jun Freres Lumber June Market Update: Wood Products Buyers Remain Timid

Posted at 16:03h in Market Update

June 25, 2018 The month of June has been a bit disappointing, in that buying has so far been poking along all month. Fortunately, mills had decent order files to fall back on, so price adjustments have been modest. With commodity lumber and panel prices at...

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