Scott Olson/Getty Images
Devin Stockfish, the chief executive of Weyerhaeuser, the largest lumber producer in the US, on Tuesday said the sky-high price of the commodity is a blip that is unsustainable.
“I don’t think $1,000 lumber prices are the new normal,” Stockfish told the Nareit REITweek 2021 Investor Conference, Bloomberg reported.
He continued: “With that being said, when you think about the amount of housing we’re going to have to build in the U.S. over the next three, five, 10 years, that’s just a significant amount of demand for wood products.”
Lumber prices have soared in the past year as housing markets around the world boomed during the coronavirus pandemic, with the random-length price rising around 40% in 2021.
Lumber stood at over $1,168 per 1,000 board feet on Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re going to continue to look for timberland opportunities,” Stockfish said. “Every deal that comes to market, we’re looking at, so I would expect us to continue to be active on that front.”
The Seattle-based company owns 11 million acres of timberland in the US.
Shares of Weyerhaeuser closed lower on Tuesday by 0.36%, at $35.57.