Lumber Prices Rebound in Second Quarter from the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

Barron’s, a leading source of financial news, is reporting, what lumber and building materials dealers across North America clearly know; lumber prices rebounded in the second quarter of 2020. Lumber prices jumped nearly 60% for the period, which helped to more than makeup for the first quarter of 2020 COVID-19 pandemic losses. Greg Kuta, president of Westline Capital Strategies, a full service commodities / futures brokerage firm, said that lumber prices and their rapid rise, particularly in the three weeks ended on July 2, have exposed an industry that was or is “under inventoried to meet current demand.” Kuta points out that following a loss of almost 31% in the first quarter of 2020, CME Lumber Futures gained 56.5% in the second quarter. In the three-week period ended on July 2, Futures prices climbed by roughly 28%.