But sales volume seems low. Many consultants report that most large tracts of quality timber are being held off the market for a better market this fall. This is especially true in southeast and central Mississippi. In that area a large volume of industrial timber in the market has caused an additional oversupply. Most contacts report that pine sawmills have plenty of logs.
Quotas are common.
Lumber is reported to be moving in the markets but prices have been trending lower for months. Competition from Canadian and West Coast lumber have kept pine lumber prices retreating. Some mills have taken downtime to relieve the production pressure. If the normal lumber price cycle for the past few years holds we should be near the bottom for prices and begin a run up of price as we head toward the end of the year. The pulpwood market remains sluggish despite overall improving paper industry production levels.