Wood Crosstie Procurement Trends
Railway Tie Association (RTA) Procurement Trends Dashboard below represents the monthly opinions of "in-the field" wood tie buyers who procure untreated crossties from sawmills in their specific regions. The data is submitted to RTA within the first two weeks of the month following the reporting period covered. The output is in two forms - monthly and a 12-month running view (which started in July 2016). You can choose individual regions or grouped regions from the dropdown menus above for both the monthly and trend data. All the charts on the page will change based on your dropdown selections.
Since the information provided represents a snapshot-in-time-opinion of individuals, each working for a variety of tie procurement companies, RTA does not warrant nor accept responsibility for the accuracy of the data generated. For questions or feedback please email us.
1. Compared to last month, the quantity of logs on hand at mill yards is:
2. Today's log availability is:
3. The 6-12 outlook for log availability is:
4. Compared to last month, the overall demand for competitive products in your territory is:
5. In your territory, what is the current demand for:
Pallet Lumber
Paper (Chips
Lumber (#2 & #3)
Export
Board/Mat Timbers
6. What is your current view of overall hardwood sawmill production?
7. What is your current view of overall crosstie sawmill products?
Current
Future
8. What is your view of crosstie competitive position relative to other hardwood products?
9. Regarding your above answer, please provide context for market, weather or other conditions.
Virginia: Flooring, pallet, and ties are slow to move. The Virginia area has cut tie receipts to a crawl. All tie competitors are slowing receipts with stiff quotas and shutdowns.
Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, N Indiana, N Illinois: Winter is finally here. single digit temperatures and some snow over the last week. Logs are still too expensive. Northern area mills are flush with logs while mills to the south are struggling to get logs. The holiday and hunting seasons have naturally slowed all production down.
Pennsylvania: Log inventories continue to be mixed but lower overall. #2 & #3C demand and pricing remain poor in most all species. Mat market demand is mixed. Some private timber sales are lower in price, but overall mills are struggling to cover costs.
New England 1: Mills are keeping log inventories low due to poor market conditions. Most mills are running about 40% lower than normal for this time of year on logs. Most all hardwood markets have slowed or will slow their purchasing going into the new year.
West Virginia: Mill production is depressed and difficult to move some products. Some mills have sufficient supply of logs and others are hand to mouth.
E Texas, NW Louisiana: with winter coming on it's a good chance mills will run out of logs which could help improve other markets as well.
Mississippi: overproduction of ties has strained the market. seasonal weather is slowing production.