Wood Products Manufacturing Up Year-Over-Year Amidst Increased Single-Family Permits
Leesburg, VA. – Wood products manufacturing is up 5 percent year-over-year, according to the Federal Reserve Board, as manufacturers continue to respond to high demand. This continues the trend of the industry’s production output at the highest levels since the Great Recession.
Demand for single-family homes also continues to rise during the pandemic, spurred by low mortgage rates. The number of single-family permits issued were almost 17 percent higher year-over-year. Additionally, home builder confidence has been above 80 consistently for the last eight months, according to a monthly Wells Fargo/National Home Builders Association survey.
In fact, Forest2Market recently found that, “…lumber production and imports both increased in 2020, and exports decreased…” They conclude that strong, unanticipated demand is the only feasible cause for the current lumber supply situation.
These positive trends come despite the wood products industry’s sustained constraints due to log supply, severe weather events, labor shortages and transportation concerns. These issues, which manufacturers of all kinds are facing during the pandemic, have made it difficult to meet the renewed retailers’ and wholesalers’ demands.
The American Wood Council (AWC) is the voice of North American wood products manufacturing, an industry that over 450,000 men and women in the United States with family-wage jobs. AWC represents 86 percent of the structural wood products industry, and members make products that are essential to everyday life from a renewable resource that absorbs and sequesters carbon. Staff experts develop state-of-the-art engineering data, technology, and standards for wood products to assure their safe and efficient design, as well as provide information on wood design, green building, and environmental regulations. AWC also advocates for balanced government policies that affect wood products.
Media Contact:
Heather Stegner
Vice President, Communications
202-463-4756
hstegner@awc.org
