U.S. sawmills are operating at the maximum capacity allowed under public health measures, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, but tree growers in the American South aren’t reaping any of the benefits. Because of the abundance of trees planted in the region spanning from Texas and the Carolinas, mills are paying lower prices than they have in decades.
The Journal notes that three Canadian firms—Canfor, Interfor, and West Fraser Timber—control one-third of lumber manufacturing in the region.
“Whatever Interfor pays, that’s what everybody else pays,” Billy Humphries, a Georgia tree grower and timber sales advisor, told the paper.
