Recent wildfires have ravaged forested areas along the West Coast and other parts of North America. It is easy to point to climate change for the severity of the problem. However, another problem, which is man-made also must shoulder some of the blame and can now be part of the solution.
Wood Markets News
Trade Tensions Between Australia and China Continue to Increase
The tension between Australia and China moved another notch higher with an official notice from China’s Customs Authority on 12/3, which notified Australian exporters that they had detected a pest (with no further specifics) in shipments of logs from South Australia and Tasmania and would therefore not accept any additional shipments from those areas.
Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey for October 2020
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has posted its Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for October 2020. According to the JOLTS report the number of job openings was little changed from September at 6.7 million, which is a rate of 4.5%, as of the last business day of October.
Mortgage Applications Decreased -1.2% in Week Ending December 4th, 2020
According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending December 4th, 2020, The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased -1.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
Pinnacle Renewable Energy’s New High Level, Alberta, Mill Starts Up Production
Pinnacle Renewable Energy announced on Wednesday (12/8) that it has started initial pellet production at its newly constructed facility in High Level, Alberta. The mill is owned in a 50 – 50 limited partnership with Tolko Industries Ltd.
After Recent Unparalleled Wildfires Colorado Looks to Logging to Re-Balance Forests
After recent unparalleled wildfire in Colorado has the state’s Department of Forestry and their foresters are looking at actions to bring the states’ forests back into balance with the state’s population growth and where people are choosing to live.
U.S. Export of Wood Pellets Tops 6.03 Metric Tons\$820.05 Million in First Ten Months of 2020
According to data released by United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service, on December 4th, the U.S. exported 624,202.9 metric tons of wood pellets in October, up from both 608,046.6 metric tons in September and 550,094.5 metric tons in October of 2019.
Timberlink to Construction a new Cross Laminated Timber Facility Alongside Their Sawmill in Tarpeena
Timberlink, the Australian timber products manufacturing business, owned by investment funds managed by New Forests, has announced that they will begin construction in 2021, on a $ 59 million state-of-the-art softwood cross laminated timber (CLT) plant to be located alongside its recently upgraded softwood sawmill at Tarpeena.
The Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Unchanged in the Week Ending November 29th, 2020
The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that after two consecutive weeks of increases the total number of loans as of November 29th, 2020, now in forbearance remained unchanged relative to the prior week at 5.54%.
Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index Drops in November
After three successive months of gains, the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) fell 1.7 points in November to a reading of 80.0.