Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
CMU School of Drama
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Lumber Falls 21% in 8-Day Losing Streak, but Analysts See a Bottom Soon
markets.businessinsider.com: Lumber futures fell 3% to $402 per thousand board feet on Tuesday, and the essential building commodity has suffered an eight-day losing streak that has erased 21% off of futures' pricing.
Just two weeks ago I was reading an article about how lumbar prices were at an all time hi and now they have plummeted yet again. I feel like the pricing of this one material alone shows just how hard budgeting a show and a production manager's job can be. With the insane amount of variation these markets can experience in such a short time it is hard to predict just how much space something like wood will take up in a budget and with the price of limber primarily influenced by the housing industry it is something that is completely out of theater companies control. Though analysis of trends can help predict lumbar prices, those predictions are not always accurate as the prices of lumber tend to vary drastically depending on the state of the economy. Though the price of lumber is dictated by simple supply and depends because of the constant variation in the market is is hard to know just what the demand will be in the coming weeks or months.
This is a difficult article because obviously low lumber prices are good for us but bad for others. At the time this article was written lumber was $392 per 1000 board feet (if my math is correct $6.27 per stick). If lumber prices are expected to rise as the article says to $500 per 1000 board feet (if my math is correct $8.00 per stick), that would be a fairly significant uptick when you consider how much lumber we buy. It is a stick-y (it’s too easy) situation because low lumber prices are good for us and anyone who wants to buy it, but it has negative effects on the people producing and selling the lumber. With this I’m not referring to Home Depot or any other major home improvement store but small lumber businesses and those harvesting the lumber who aren’t able to sell it for as high a price. I have no idea how it affects home building, except that the market is slow, but I could imagine that because lumber costs less, contractors are being paid less, which in an already difficult business causes more financial strain.
2 comments:
Just two weeks ago I was reading an article about how lumbar prices were at an all time hi and now they have plummeted yet again. I feel like the pricing of this one material alone shows just how hard budgeting a show and a production manager's job can be. With the insane amount of variation these markets can experience in such a short time it is hard to predict just how much space something like wood will take up in a budget and with the price of limber primarily influenced by the housing industry it is something that is completely out of theater companies control. Though analysis of trends can help predict lumbar prices, those predictions are not always accurate as the prices of lumber tend to vary drastically depending on the state of the economy. Though the price of lumber is dictated by simple supply and depends because of the constant variation in the market is is hard to know just what the demand will be in the coming weeks or months.
Theo Kronemer
This is a difficult article because obviously low lumber prices are good for us but bad for others. At the time this article was written lumber was $392 per 1000 board feet (if my math is correct $6.27 per stick). If lumber prices are expected to rise as the article says to $500 per 1000 board feet (if my math is correct $8.00 per stick), that would be a fairly significant uptick when you consider how much lumber we buy. It is a stick-y (it’s too easy) situation because low lumber prices are good for us and anyone who wants to buy it, but it has negative effects on the people producing and selling the lumber. With this I’m not referring to Home Depot or any other major home improvement store but small lumber businesses and those harvesting the lumber who aren’t able to sell it for as high a price. I have no idea how it affects home building, except that the market is slow, but I could imagine that because lumber costs less, contractors are being paid less, which in an already difficult business causes more financial strain.
Post a Comment