Absolutely. He's expiring after next year and I'm sure Tilman would love to get rid of that contract.
its not just one factor... lumber mills have not been able to operate at full capacity since the pandemic - theyre still trying to catch up home building is at record levels - even in non-pandemic times the lumber mills would be struggling to keep up people staying at home during covid and doing diy remodel projects - big box retailers are gobbling up supply trump canadian lumber tariffs that he imposed when he took office - tariffs are soooo free market, arent they trump supporters! i know he told yall that the country he is imposing the tariffs on will pay for them, but thats not the way it works. the american consumer pays for them, including the 20% tariff he put on canadian lumber. i just saw that lumber went up 20% in just the last month. thats on top of 20-30% increases over the last few months. its been about a month since i looked, but last i saw was this... 9' 2x4 that they use to frame houses was $10/each - was $4/each a year ago 4x8 OSB board that they use as basically the base for all walls and roofs went from $7 to $60. things will straighten out and prices will come down, but i wouldnt count on it till 2022.
You're making it too complicated. Lets see here, wood prices are higher now than they were last year because we had an orange steady hand who said so: He went away, let alone the details or any of his policies, but then wood got scared and unconfident and prices raised in return internet politics 101.
As others stated, there is a glut of timber. Mills got hit pretty hard with COVID and struggling to catch up. Also there are labor shortages. Home projects have greatly increased during COVID. New homes are only an issue because many builders have been slow to build due to the initial shut downs and increase price of lumber, thus creating a bigger demand for new homes. Increased saving and inflation fears are driving capital into real estate. Those extreme lockdowns are starting to show up.
