Washington lumber mill operators say they see hints of an economic recovery, says yesterday’s The Daily News (Longview). DNR, which sells timber to many mills in the state, also is seeing faint signs of a recovery. Our latest Revenue Forecast notes that stumpage prices (the value of standing trees sold for harvest) have climbed to $185 per thousand board feet (mbf). (Visualize a board foot as a 1-inch-thick board, 12 inches long by 12 inches wide.) While that price is a big improvement from the $130/mbf of last April, it’s still 27 percent lower than a year ago.
DNR’s short-term strategy includes withdrawing some lower-valued timber from the market temporarily to improve returns. DNR markets timber from state trust lands to support school and university construction, county services and other beneficiaries. In DNR’s latest revenue forecast, our economists expect timber stumpage prices to average about $196/mbf for fiscal year 2010, which started in July.
Read the latest DNR Revenue Forecast.
