Last week, lumber prices hit an eight-year high as the housing market recovers and overseas demand increases, according to MSN Money.
MSN Money cited China's demand for raw materials for the 9 percent jump in exports from West Coast states in the third quarter of 2012. Of those exports, 62 percent went to China, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Timber industry newsletter Random Lengths reported its Structural Panel Composite Price was up to $511 per 1,000 board feet compared to $351 this time last year.
Still, some in the industry are wary of ramping up production.
"Producers, because of the depth and length of the recession, have been reluctant to add shifts or increase production. They've held off re-opening mothballed facilities," Jon Anderson, publisher and president of Random Lengths, told ABC News.
