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Forestry-Related Industry Performance—June 2013

Forestry-Related Industry Performance—June 2013
Manufacturing, as measured by the Institute for Supply Management’s PMI, expanded in June after falling into contraction during May. The index rose from 49.0% to 50.9%, nearly one percentage point above the 50.0% breakeven line. Both Wood and Paper Products saw overall growth.

Paper Products’ expansion exhibited widespread support among the sub-indices. Wood Products, on the other hand, showed areas of weakness, including new orders and order backlogs (Table 3).

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"Indications are that customers have acceptable inventory levels, and as a result, are backing down on new orders and reassessing market conditions," wrote one Wood Products respondent. A Paper Products respondent was more upbeat, observing that "June sales appear to have rebounded from what was a lackluster May."

The pace of growth in the service sector backed off slightly in June. The non-manufacturing index registered 52.2%, 1.5 percentage points lower than May's 53.7%. All three industries we track reported growth, although some sub-indices weakened relative to May.

Commodities used by either the manufacturing or non-manufacturing sectors and that were up in price included caustic soda, plywood, lumber, and corrugated boxes and packaging. Commodities down in price included lumber (specifically, pine, spruce & treated) and natural gas. Diesel and gasoline were variously reported as both up and down in price. No relevant commodities were in short supply.

Learn more about Forest2Market's Economic Outlook, a 24-month forecast of the macro-economic indicators that drive supply and demand in forestry-related industries.