THE CALIFOR}IIA LUMBERMERCHANT

How Lumber Looks

Lumbermen believe that the present slack in buying is due to uncertainty about the effective date of the lumber Code, now under consideration at Vaehington, deales h""irg in the past two months anticipated their immediate needs and are now waiting to see what the new regulations will do to alfect prices, according to the.Weet Coast Lumbermentr Asrociation. Once the mattet is setded, the industry believes a faitly eteady demand will begin but the level at which this expected new business is to.corne qrnnot at this time be estimated. ThiE will depend on the added putchasing power by that time distributed throughout the country. fn the meantime, the A$ociation states, the industry has a good back-log of unfilled ordero and can await the settlement of the code and such improvement in lumber consumption as rnay occur through the operations of the various meaaures now being taken to improve conditions throughout tfie country.

New businese rq>orted to the Association by 182 mills for the wee& ended July 15 is 9O,O39,529 fent against a production of 1o6,W4252 feet and shipmene of, 104,590,621 feet. Shipments were under production by 1.42/s, and the cuffent salec were under production by 15.13/s. Orders booked for the week by this group of mills were over the preceding week by 593,81O feet, or O.6Vo. **

Production during t{re week ended July 15 was 2O5,954,OOO feet; shipments were 219r28Or00O feet and orders 18710111000 feet, according to reports to the National Lumber Manufacturers Association from regional associations coveting the operations of 639 leading hardwood and softwood mills. Lumber orderc for t{re week, for the first time in e yee\ fell below production. Production for the week was the heaviest since luly, l9)1. All softwood regions, except Nochern Hemlocfr, showed an excess of production over o,rders. Flardwood orders, however, wete 34 per cent above production.

Kenneth Smith Attends Chicago Meeting

Kenneth Smith, se,cretarv of the Lumber & Allied Products Institute, Los Angeles, has returned from a trip to Chicago rvhere he attended the annual meeting of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association.

On Northwest Trip

Carl R. Moore, of the San Francisco office of Moore Mill & Lumber Co., left July 24 by automobile for a trip to Long Beach, Wash. He will spend some time at the company's at Bandon, Ore., and will return by way of the

Redwood highway, reaching San Francisco about August 3.

The Southetn Pine Asgociatioa for the week ended July 15 reported new business for 1O1 "rills a! 26rE9Er(rcO feet; ihipments tzrOS2rOOO f.et, and production 1016T01000 feet. Orders wete 12 p9r cent below production and 16 per cent below shipments. Shipments were 5 per cent above productioar.

The Western Pine Association for the week reported new business for 110 mills as ,8r413,(XlO feet; shipments 5Or42SrOW fe96 and production 45rl45rW feet. OrderJ were 15 per celrt below production and 24 pe cent below shipmcnts. Shipmcnts were 12 per cent above production.

239 hardwood mills for the same weel give new business ac 27rO46.r0{J,O feet, or 34 pet cent above production, and shipments 27r9(X)r(XX) feet, or 3E per cent above production. Production was 20r161r(XX) feet.

!N.****

The California Rodwood Association for the month of Junq 1933, rcponed orders received for 12 mills as 33r439r(N f.eet1 orders on hand 34985,000 feet; shipments 24,776,fi)0 fect; production 612,42.OOO f.eet.

Details of orders and shipments for tfie month were as follows: Ordere-Northem California 8rO99r0OO feet; Sout{rern California tr7l4rfiO0 fea; Vestern 47,(XX) feet; Eastern 19r979,ON feet; Foreign 1,6O0,(XX) feet. Shipments-Northetn California 6r138r(XX) feet; Southern California 4126810/l/0 f.a,; Vestern 64r(X)O feet; Eastern l2,97OrO0/J feet; Foreign 11336rOfi) feet.

California buying slowed up considerably during the month of Juln The consumer demand also dropped ofi some and was not up to the June volume of business. To some extent this is s€asonal as July is generally a quiet month. Prices, both wholesale and tetail, are being well maintained.

Unsold stocks on the public docks at San Pedro totaled 110301000 feet on July 24 as agarnst l254rWO two weeks ago. Cargo arrivals at dris port for the week ended lruly 2a amounted to 1310911000 feet, which included 16 cargoes of Fir. 63 vessels were operating in the coastwise lumber trade on July 2O; 4l vessels were laid up. The Los Angeles building permits for t{re first twenty-five days of July totaled {l/r7,Eg0.

Back From Northwest

Al Kelley, of the Santa Fe Lumber Co., San Francisco, returned to San Francisco luly 17 from a two weeks'business and vacation trip to the Northwest. He went as far north as Everett and called on a number of mills, including the Willamette Valley Lumber Company's mill at Dallas, Oregon, where he spent two days looking over their operation. He was ac.companied by his family, and traveled by automobile.