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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
June 18, 2018 The only constant in life is that nothing ever stays the same. Wood products markets, and veneer and panel markets, in particular, can be extremely unpredictable. Most years the markets bounce around the bottom until we reach June or July, we experience a...
I recently toured the new Mass Plywood Panel (MPP) plant, Plant 6, and met Jason Pilgrim and learned more about his role as the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) Manager at this new MPP facility in Lyons, Oregon. What is your role at Freres Lumber Co.? Well, you...
Oregon wood products pioneer, philanthropist, husband, father and grandfather Ted F. Freres, passed away on Sunday, June 3 following a year-long battle against pancreatic cancer. Although the last year brought unique suffering, Ted battled the disease without compromising his finest qualities: kindness, determination and humility....
May 29, 2018 Lumber Products Gain Strength in May The month of May has brought an improved marketplace for commodity plywood, among many other strong commodity lumber product performances. Trading had remained lackluster right up to the end of April, but as we turned the corner into May...