Despite its vast and mature forests, Saskatchewan forestlands have been under-utilized. That is until now. Over the past several weeks, the province has announced a reallocation of its forest resources, primarily located north of Saskatoon, and that will result in sizeable forest industry investments. Those forestland reallocations are expected, over the next two years, to lead to over a $1 billion dollars (CAD) in new investments in Saskatchewan’s forest industry.
Wood Markets News
Canadian Housing Starts Drop -22% from November to December
According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the trend in housing starts was 260,567 units in December, down from 267,606 units in November. This trend measures a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted rates of housing starts in Canada. The standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 236,106 units in December, a decline of -22% from 303,813 units in November.
Home Sales Decline Month-Over-Month and Year-Over-Year in December
Redfin reported on Friday (1-14-22) that there were fewer homes than ever available for sale in December. This drove seasonally adjusted home sales down -3.6% from November and -11% when compared to December 2020 — the largest month-over-month sales decline since May 2020. On the other hand, home prices surged 15% higher year-over-year, marking the 17th consecutive month of double-digit home price increases.
HS Timber Group GmbH Announces the Restructuring of its Romanian Operations in the Suceava Region
Parts of the operations in Rădăuți, specifically the sawmilling operations, will cease. However, the production of posts and beams at the site will remain in operation. The panel plant in Siret, which processes sawn timber from the Rădăuți mill, will be closed down in its entirety. With this step, the cutting capacity of HS Timber Group’s sawmills in Romania will be reduced by 30%.
Canadian Home Sales and Prices Push Higher in December
According to statistics released on Monday (1-17-22) by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems edged up 0.2% between November and December 2021. The small increases in November and December followed on the heels of a 9% increase in activity in October. This places sales in Q4 2021 between the highs and lows seen earlier in the year. The actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions in December 2021 came in -9.9% below the record for December, which was set in December of 2020.
Builder Sentiment Declines in January on Inflation Concerns
On Tuesday (1-18-22), The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) reported that builder sentiment in the market for newly built single-family homes edged 1-point lower in January to a reading of 84. The HMI has hovered between 83 and 84 for the past three months, the same rate it was at in the spring of 2021. Builder confidence topped at a level of 90 in November 2020.
B.C. Secondary Forest Products Sector Getting Hit Hard by Old Growth Forest Deferrals
Doing more with less and concentrating on high value-added products is the focus of B.C.’s NDP government officials, as they face a shrinking supply of harvestable timber, and the need to protect more old growth forests. However, the secondary sector is more frightened than enthused by the plan: to protect up to an additional 2.6 million hectares of old growth, about half of which the government says is in the timber harvesting land base.
Canadian Real GDP for Natural Resource Sector Increased in Q3 2021 — Forestry Sector Sole Decline
Statistics Canada (StatsCan) reported on Friday (1-14-22) that the real gross domestic product (GDP) for the natural resource sector increased 2.9% in Q3 2021. The natural resources sector real GDP has now surpassed pre-pandemic levels, recovering from the -11.1% drop in Q2 of 2020.
B.C. First Nations’ Leaders Call for a Reset on Provincial Government’s Forestry Policies
The Ashcroft Indian Band has been pressing the B.C. government to overhaul the province’s forestry policies for over two years, saying that the current system fails to reflect the government’s commitment to reconcile with the Indigenous peoples or its legal obligations to them.
Monthly Construction Input Prices Rise in December
According to analysis provided by the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) regarding the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) December Producer Price Index, construction input prices rose 0.6% in December when compared to November. Nonresidential construction input prices also increased 0.6% for the month.