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.
West Virginia: Cold and snowy for the Month of January. Mills have decent log supplies due to the frozen ground. Lumber markets are sluggish
Mississippi: Winter weather has slowed production. log inventories are diminishing.
Kentucky, Tennessee: Extreme winter weather should have demand higher for all forest products yet the orders are slow and prices are falling.
E Texas, NW Louisiana: Pallet is still weak , grade lumber is down down down and mills are struggling to get rid of some products.
Virginia: As inventories remain high, demand for material will continue to soften
Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, N Indiana, N Illinois: Crossties are still favorable for now in relation to other products
Pennsylvania: As inventories remain high, demand for material will soften. Ties are still favorable for now in comparison to other products
New England 1: As inventories remain high, demand for material will continue to soften. Sawmills are going to struggle to move all of their products.