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.
Mississippi: Crossties hold a strong competitive advantage in the market. Lack of pallet & lumber orders coupled with terrible residual markets have forced many mills to restrict overall production.
Virginia: Flooring, pallet,v poplar and ties are slow to move. Quotas and shutdowns are in place.
Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, N Indiana, N Illinois: Rain, flooding, and more rain in the forecast. Mills are running out of logs. Several mills are shutting down the entire week for the 4th of July vacations.
Pennsylvania: Log supply continues to vary greatly around the area. Struggles for mills persist across the area. Upper grade lumber in some species are doing okay. Chip supplies are lower and increasing demand at some end users facilities.
New England 1: Weather conditions have been good for logging but most mills have their loggers on quotas to keep inventories low. Markets are stable but with very low pricing. Tie production is continuing to slow.
West Virginia: Lumber markets are sluggish and not much good news going forward
E Texas, NW Louisiana: Pallet is a big problem and with this Hurricane coming thru east texas could put logging on hold for some time so we just have to wait and see with this being a election year . Not looking good!!!!