The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is reporting that 2020’s wildfire season saw the largest number of acres burned in national forests since 1910, which was when previous high record was set. As of December 18th, 2020, 181,234 acres have been reported burned this year in Alaska and 10,069,213 in the other 49 states.
Wood Markets News
HS Timber Breaks Ground on New Sawmill in Belarus
HS Timber Group, began construction of a new sawmill in Grodno region of Belarus. The softwood mill will process pine and spruce logs and is expected to have an annual operating capacity of 500,000 m3 when completed in the spring of 2022.
Zillow Research Predicting 2021 Housing Market to be Even Stronger than 2020’s
Zillow, the Seattle-based American online real estate marketplace company is predicting that the for-sale housing market which showed incredible strength in 2020, will be even stronger in 2021. In their forward-looking research Zillow expects demand to continue to stay high and is expecting a surge in cities as economies reopen.
Canadian Confidence Index Increases for Third Straight Week
The Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index (CCI), a composite measure of Canadians financial health and economic expectations, rose for a third-straight week to 54.2 on Friday (12/18), almost exactly where it was in mid-March when widespread restrictions were imposed to limit the spread of Covid-19.
Western Wildfire Season 2020 Cost Insurers $7 – $13 Billion in Insured Losses Through November
The wildfire season of 2020 in the western United States has cost insurers anywhere from $ 7 – $13 billion in insured losses through November.
Freres Lumber Attains ASTM Certified Environmental Declaration for Mass Ply Panels
Freres Lumber Co. has published its first Environmental Product Declaration (EDP) for its Mass Ply Panel (MPP). Product specific information in the report was independently validated by the internationally recognized standards organization ASTM International.
Over 50% of Houses Sold in November Evolved into a Bidding War
According to Redfin, the Seattle-based real estate brokerage firm, 53.6% of home offers written by their agents ended up in a bidding war.
Labor – The Missing Piece in the Housing Market
The missing piece in the housing market, according to Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda, the housing market research and real estate analytics firm, is labor.
B.C. Provincial Government Announces $9.3 Million Fund for Small to Medium Sized Forestry Businesses to Offset Operating Costs During Pandemic
The British Columbia provincial government is delivering relief to small- and medium sized forestry businesses to help offset the extra costs of keeping their employees and communities safe, while operating through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Quebec’s Provincial Government Announces Aggressive Wood Harvesting Plan within 60 years
Quebec’s Premier, Francois Legault’s government has announced that it intends to almost double the amount of wood harvested each year in Quebec forest within 60 years.