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Comment by m0llusk | Hacker News Reader

That is much more complicated than it appears. Cutting and transporting trees is not easy or free, and there is already a huge glut of wood caused by the die off from phytophthera. Might still be worth looking into.

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I'm not from the region so I'm wonder if this glut of wood translating into low prices for end consumers?

lumber future prices are up over the last few months. currently 593, was 493 in July.

https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/commodities/lbr

Have you seen that happening?

Did prices for wood even go down post-COVID back to their previous level?

That's why I'm asking. I live in Canada where we produce a tremendous amount of lumber but it's processed in the US and the prices spiked during COVID and while they've gone down haven't returned to anything resembling the baseline.

Baseline before COVID, or baseline factoring in the (global) post COVID inflation spike?

It looks like it is more or less back to a rough pre-COVID baseline, if inflation is factored in: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/lumber

(But I'm certainly not seeing the glut of cheap lumber that others may appear to be alluding to here...)

"Low prices for end consumers" seems to be around the current $3-$4 per 2x4x8 stud in retail terms, but standing lumber was never worth much even at the peak of the lumber shortage a couple years ago, it was all sawmill-limited.

Most consumers want straight boards for building. Most wood, particularly from die offs, is curvy branches that may be useful when ground up for wood based products like pellets, MDF, or paper.

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