California White & Sugar Pine Outlook for the Coming Year

By Edw. P. Ivory, Manager Trade Extension, California White & Sugar Pine Manufacturers Association

California White and Sugar Pine has an excePtionally bright outlook for the coming year. Every indication points to the fact that demand will be sustai!ed and prices improved. Boom conditions may not exist but good substantial business at profitable prices is bound to prevail. Present day prices ate comparitively low,. but the heav-y demand, the -small stocks of lumber on hand, the wide distribution and greater diversity in California Pine products, as well as tle improved tone in market conditions of other species, give substantial ground for optimism.

Compared with last year, and several preceding years' very little stock was cjrried over into the new operating seaion from the previous fall. What little is still on hand is that which rvai cut late in the year and is ortly now su-fficiently dry fc^ the market. Furthermore, comp.aratively little unsoli stock has accumulated since the beginning of operations in April. While the majority of the large m.ills have been operating to normal capacity, many of the smaller mills have closed down. Fresh cut stock that has been put in the pile is just getting in shipping condition and at mills operating ary t;tni the -bulk of ihe stock has been shipped out as fait ai produced. The condition prevailingJast year, of heavy accumulation all through the sp-ring and summer months, is not now to be found at the mills.

Demand throughout the spring has been exceptionally good and it is difficult at times to reconcile it with the low frices. Furthermore, there seems to be no let-up in this demand.

' Building conditions in the country as a whole are good. Some few-cities report a decrease, but this is balanced-by increased activity in other regions. Larger cities reporting tfrat they are oier-built find that the surplus of dwelling accommodation is largely in the apartment house type. There is still a shortage of homes for working men in practically every large community. Those in close touch with the situation report there will be no lowering in the cost of building for the next five years.

The past year has seen the widest distribution of California Wt-ritej and Sugar Pine ever known. Many new markets, such as Florida and the Gulf States, have been opened uo ancl a large volume of lumber has gone into them' Furthermore. -oldet markets which previously have taken onlv selects and shop lumber have been buying large quantiti6s of common. Ihterest in California Pines is evidenced bv dealers and wholesalers throughout the United States, bn interest developing largely from the extension work now being carried bn.- Many lumbermen who have never before tra"nated our products are now carrying them, and this number is increasing dailY.

stalled all over the resion and large quantities of molding and trim are being pr6duced. Many inills which formerly considered there ivis no common in their logs, are now segregating and selling a large volume. of it. Su-g-ar Plle .oir--on is"being sold Jeparat. fto- white pine. White Fir is being manufaltured into boards and dimension and sold througtout the United States. The total volume of lumber shippEcl out in the form of yard stock this year-is sufficient to iiave a very beneficial efiect on the market for the shop and select grides of white and sugar pine.

The explanation for the present low- rarrge in prices. is largely irr the tremendous production of all species. during the-past year in the United States as a whole. This was gr.rt"t than any year's production in the last ten and exE""aea by seveial'billion feet the average for- the past five vears. All lumber prices have been affected by this tremendous cut and *hile de-"nd for California White and So*i Pine has been maintained, still the prices paid have of "necessity been in line with, or slightly above rvhat the lumber codld be obtained for in other species' This situaiio" ttut changed, however, and the market for such species as Douglas FIr tras rectified itself. There has been a large curtailrient in production in the fir region during the past few months and at the present'time iome mills are shut down until after the Fourih of July. This is bound to bring a healthy tone in the general lumber market'

In view of these circumstances it is felt that the next t"*--onlttt are bound to see higher prices for white and iugar pine products, along with a demand that will be, not only sirstained but augmented.

A Seattle Hoo Hoo Notable

Another healthy sign is that California Pine mills are diversifying their'products. Many mills which previously cut only piank for the facto.ry and box trade, are- now de"etopi"'g " lutge yard trade.- Planing mills are being in-