Timber prices have gone through the roof, rising 23% in just one month.
Analysts say the price of imported sawn or planed wood jumped more than 20% from June to July. According to the latest data provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the material is 65% higher than a year ago.
Imported plywood was nearly 12% more expensive in July than it was in June and is up a whopping 82% since July of 2020.
Timber Trade Federation officials say there's a lot of new construction, and construction projects have a high softwood demand, leading to the explosion in prices.
“At the same time, supply tightened in July, as sawmills and wood production facilities in Sweden and other European countries closed for essential summer maintenance," said TTF chief executive David Hopkins.
Hopkins predicted that the third quarter of 2021 would be the most critical for the timber industry, partly due to a lack of stock in countries including Sweden which is at their lowest levels in two decades.
Timber is the only material seeing a significant shortage and subsequent price hikes, materials including steel, cement, and roofing products are also strained.
Overall material prices are up 20% from a year ago, jumping another 5% in the last couple months.
The price pain is passed on from material manufacturers, to contractors, and on down to the consumer. Construction projects remain either in the planning states or in limbo while the ripple affect is causing price hikes in everything from cost of service to the price of machine parts.
With pandemic fears still very much in play, there's little chance the construction sector will see improvements by the end of 2021, and will likely persist into the middle of 2022.
All of this also means there is more demand for cost cutting measures, and a need for contractor preplanning. When it comes to machine parts, be sure to contact ConEquip Parts as they can help facilitate cost cutting needs without sacrificing quality on construction machine parts.
