Benchmark U.S. lumber futures climbed to a one-year high in late July as wildfires across Western Canada threatened supply, with the Chicago contract settling at $650.06 per thousand board feet on July 27, up 5.3% over the month, according to exchange pricing tracked by Trading Economics and reported by Wood Central. Prices then eased back below $650 the same day, with the contract at about $638, as new U.S. tariffs on Canadian wood products weighed on the market.
British Columbia, Canada's largest lumber-exporting province, has been hit hardest, with dozens of active fires threatening the spruce-pine-fir supply that feeds mills across the U.S. Supply was already tight before the fires, according to Madison's Lumber Reporter.
While President Donald Trump's Section 338 proclamations spared lumber from the 50% duties imposed on Canadian goods, Canada's forestry body has identified 98 tariff lines targeting forest products—including plywood, fiberboard and particleboard—now subject to the new rate.
