US South Stumpage Price Trends by Region: July/August 2016

Stumpage prices during July/August were a mixed bag, with all softwood products dropping slightly along with hardwood pulpwood. Hardwood sawtimber was the lone product that experienced a small gain in price. On a Southwide basis, pine pulpwood, pine sawtimber and pine chip-n-saw fell slightly during July and August. Hardwood pulpwood had the biggest drop of -5 percent, while hardwood sawtimber saw modest a gain of +1 percent. 

Pine

Pine pulpwood prices sank to $9.37/ton during July/August (-2.4 percent). All three regions saw prices decrease for pine pulpwood. The East-South experienced the largest price drop of -3 percent, falling to $12.85/ton. The Mid-South fell to $7.41/ton, down -1.9 percent and the West-South dropped to $7.84/ton a drop of -1.7 percent.

Chip-n-saw prices dipped to $15.67/ton, a drop of -2.3 percent Southwide. The West-South suffered the most, falling -2.8 percent to $14.30/ton. The Mid-South region slipped to $14.55/ton, a -2.7 percent drop. The East-South region stumbled down to $18.16/ton, a decline of -1.5 percent.

Pine sawtimber followed suit with chip-n-saw, declining just over -2 percent to $25.15/ton for a Southwide average. The West-South and East-South pine sawtimber prices both slid -2.5 percent, down to $27.41/ton and $25.52/ton, respectively. The Mid-South dropped slightly (-1 percent) to $22.53/ton.

Hardwood

Southwide hardwood pulpwood prices took the biggest hit, tumbling -5 percent during July/August to $8.51/ton. The West-South region plunged -6.4 percent to $10.78/ton. The Mid-South slipped -3 percent to $7.99/ton, while the East-South fell by -5.3 percent to $6.75/ton.

Hardwood sawtimber prices showed modest gains (+1 percent) on a Southwide basis, ticking up to $29.89/ton. The East-South experienced the largest gain, up +4.6 percent, to $27.33/ton. The West-South and Mid-South both remained relatively flat, both falling <1 percent. The West-South fell to $31.70/ton and the Mid-South dropped to $30.65/ton.

Outlook

While parts of the southeastern US have experienced some significant rain events lately, this has not had much effect on stumpage prices as of yet. Going forward, we expect pine and hardwood pulpwood prices to tick upward as fall inventory building begins and seasonal weather restricts supply. In the near-term (present through the end of 2016), PST and CNS will remain flat in response to idle housing numbers.