North American lumber industry struggles with closures, tariffs and post-pandemic demand shift

Why vacillating tariff decisions will lead to price surges, but the fundamentals will prevail in the US steel market

Forecasting is not an absolute exact science, but it provides a general expectation of future growth scenarios based on assumptions. Accessing two, five and 15-year forecasts by region and grade enables parties to plan around market changes. At Fastmarkets, our macroeconomic forecasts serve as a foundation for various forestry product forecasts, such as pulp, packaging, […]

Timber prices continue to remain subdued by our estimates. Log demand and prices have declined in most major North American producing regions as the US housing market throttled back and mills were temporarily shut or reduced shifts. Timber prices are influenced by many factors, one of which is lumber prices. In the US, roughly 70% […]

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The tariff drama as President Trump enters his second term of office has occupied much of the energy of financial markets and business leaders. The 25% levies on all goods from Canada and Mexico implemented on March 4 are sending ripple effects throughout the entire forest products industry, given the level of industry integration and […]

Presenters shared insights into zinc market dynamics at the International Zinc Association’s (IZA) International Zinc and Zinc Oxide conference held February 23-26 in San Diego.

Graphite producers in Southeast Africa, including Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania, are becoming key players as global demand shifts away from China. Despite challenges like infrastructure and competition, growing demand for large graphite flakes and downstream processing signals a promising future for the region by 2025

We expect prices for paper products in Latin America to increase in 2025, tracking higher costs and more robust demand than in 2024. The demand recovery in 2024 created opportunities to consume any remaining unsold inventories from the 2022-23 period, and new orders were placed throughout the year as demand increased. From a cost perspective, […]

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