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DANT & WHOLESALERS RUSSE OF WEST NC. wooDs LL, I COAST
Revised MPR No. 215
Establishment of specific maximum prices for softwood lumber sold by distribution yards-both wholesale and retail-in 16 New England, Middle Atlantic area and Middle Western States, part of Virginia, and the District of Columbia, was announced by the Office of Price Adtninistration.
The new maximum prices are created through issuance of a schedule oI specific mark-ups which may be added by yards to mill dollars-and-cents prices provided in the various OPA lumber regulations. Mill prices, plus freight, plus these specific mark-ups, give distribution yards the maximum prices at which they may sell softwood lumber.
The mark-ups, called "interim mark-ups," are preseuted to the trade in Revised Price Regulation No. 215, which becomes effective June D, 1943.
The new uniform pricing procedure is for use only by distribution yards in 16 States, part of Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The States are listed in the Regulation. However, similar schedules of uniform mark-ups for use in calculating maximum prices, each tailored to meet regional needs, will be provided for yards throughout otlrer regions of the nation in the fttture, OPA said.
Specifically, Revised Maximum Price Regulation No. 215 does the following:
1. I,t establishes "interim mark-ups" for all yard stock sales of softwoods in two specific geographical regions designated as the North Central and North Atlantic areas.
2. It establishes a uniform mark-up of $5 per 1,000 board feet and 10 per cent on all sales by wholesale yards and '.CPA" yards throughout the nation.
3. It establishes in the two areas an additional set of "working charges" to be used with the interim area markups.
The States making up the tu'o regions in which "interim ceilings" are established are:
North Central Region: Western Pennsylvania from the Western boundaries of Juniata, Perry, Cumberland, Adams, Tioga, Lycoming, Union and Snyder counties; West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, the lower peninsula of Michigan and Illinois.
North Atlantic Region: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, the counties of Pennsylvania not included in the North Central Region, Fairfax and Arlington counties and the city of Alexandria in Virginia.
The new interim mark-up prices will result in l,igher. prices for some yards, and lower prices for others. But, OPA said, the over-all effect of the new prices will be to "relieve a squeeze" on some yards caused by advances in mill prices, and, at the same time, "roll back" exorbitant prices certain yards have been charging, continuing, however, the average level of prices for softwood lumber established by the General Maximum Price Regulation, which formerly governed the bulk of softwood distribution yard sales.
The "interim mark-ups," which yards may add to mill prices established by OPA in regulations covering the individual species of lumber, in 'effect provide "dollar-andcents" prices for the yards in the areas covered, OPA said.
The "interim mark-ups" will remain in efiect until "permanent dollars-and-cents prices, based on a thorough nation-wide study of the costs and mark-up practices of the industry, can be issued," OPA added.
"Interim Ceilings"
The new "interim ceilings," establishecl in Revised Maxi-
