A report in The Wall Street Journal suggests a 27% increase in lumber prices to date this year is evidence an uptick in domestic demand is more than off-setting a slowdown in American wood exports.  While U.S. exports of wood products to China have fallen 16%, U.S. housing starts have climbed to 714,000 (annual pace, up from 609,000 last year).  “Indeed, Chinese timber demand may have fallen not just because China’s economy is slowing, but because U.S. wood is no longer the bargain that it once was.”

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