Plywood, OSB Prices Fall Plywood, OSB Prices Fall
Portland. OR, Dec. 10 The party may be over for wood paneling producers, according to the Oregonian. For most of the year, makers of plywood and oriented strand board enjoyed an enormous surge in prices. Homebuilders bought as much paneling as they could find, as new home construction surged during the summer to the highest levels in more than a decade. The benchmark price for oriented strand board, used as a base for some of the best engineered wood flooring and roofing and roofing products, doubled from early May to late August. Companies such as Portland-based Louisiana-Pacific, the largest North American maker of OSB, and Federal Way, WA-based Weyerhaeuser saw their annual sales increase by double-digit percentages. But last week, the benchmark OSB price dropped by $100 per 1,000 square feet, or 23.5 percent, to $325 per 1,000 square feet. Industry observers said the price mo