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.
E Texas, NW Louisiana: Pallet is good in a way of getting rid of material but price is soft , We're having a paper mill close in April in my area and this will hurt all suppliers in one way or another,and lastly it's Wet.
Mississippi: Crossties seem to be the foundation of sawmill production. Seasonal weather challenges are temporarily hindering sawmill production.
West Virginia: Mixed bag of weather. Some areas had flooding some snow and cold temperatures. Most mills have adequate log inventories to run but some are switching species quite often to operate. Mills can move lumber but all say that the pricing makes it difficult to make any profit.
Virginia: Flooring, Pallet and ties are moving slow or not at all. Crane Mat material has picked up quite a bit over the last month. Poplar is moving good.
Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, N Indiana, N Illinois: Road restrictions are in place now and that will slow wood down even more. Log prices are staying stubbornly high.
Pennsylvania: Timber and Log inventory is highly variable; some are close to full, others don't know where there next stick is going to come from. Mat timbers have grown a strong demand recently in eastern PA and taking a lot of volume out of other markets.
New England 1: Tariffs will affect log supply temporarily in this area. Spring break up is looming and with most mills having low log inventories they are worried they will not be able to make it through the Spring. Market conditions are still very poor.