September 17, 2018 We are pleased and humbled to announce that Freres Lumber Company has been selected as SEDCOR's Manufacturer of the Year! SEDCOR is a nonprofit organization working with private and public partners to enhance and diversify the Mid-Willamette Valley economy. They have been advocates for...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...