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United States Department of Agriculture
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Review of alternative measures of softwood sawtimber prices in the United States
Author(s): Henry Spelter
Date: 2005
Source: Research Paper FPL-RP-629. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 16 p.
Publication Series: Research Paper (RP)
Station: Forest Products Laboratory
PDF: View PDF (1.2 MB)Description
This study compares prices from various timber market reports and an estimate of timber value derived from product-selling prices and manufacturing costs. In the South, two primary sources of timber price information are Forest2Market (F2M) and Timber Mart-South (TMS). Comparisons showed that F2M prices are generally higher than TMS prices for both stumpage and delivered timber. Residual value (RV) estimates tended to vary from these at any given time. Over 5 years, however, the negative and positive deviations largely offset each other, resulting in roughly the same average price levels, at least compared with TMS. The RV estimates also tended to lead the direction of reported prices and were useful as leading indicators of reported market price directions. Comparison of various price reports from public and private agencies in the West showed that Forest Service prices were substantially lower than those recorded by other agencies and RV calculations. The discounts appear to reflect lower quality offerings and more restrictive harvest regulations that increase harvest costs. This report proposes a method of pricing timber based on RV calculations as one means to reduce the variability in lumber sawmilling profits.Publication Notes
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- This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
Citation
Spelter, Henry. 2005. Review of alternative measures of softwood sawtimber prices in the United States. Research Paper FPL-RP-629. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 16 p.Cited
Keywords
softwood timber prices, residual value, stumpage, delivered logs, lumber manufacturing costsRelated Search
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