Lumber

The sawn softwood of construction, whose futures became a pandemic era legend.

Overview

CME random length futures trade 110,000 board feet, cash settled against a framing lumber index, and the contract went from obscurity to front page in 2020 21, quadrupling past 1,700 dollars per thousand board feet as homebuilding met sawmill cuts, then collapsing and whipsawing for years. Canada supplies the US market, with British Columbia beetle kill and wildfires cutting fiber and duties on Canadian softwood adding a wedge in trade court for years. Housing starts and remodeling set demand, oriented strand board trades alongside, and prices run seasonal with spring strongest. Cash futures basis moves freight, treatment, and regional species mixes.