Monday, September 28, 2026

Last Chance to Register for Forisk's Timber Market Analysis Class

This is your last chance to register for Forisk's Timber Market Analysis Class!
Registration closes at midnight tomorrow!

Join us virtually via live Zoom webinar on September 30–October 1 for two half-days of practical, case-study-based instruction on understanding, tracking, and analyzing timber markets.

The Timber Market Analysis (TMA) Class walks through the process to understand, track, and analyze the price, demand, supply, and competitive dynamics of local timber markets and wood baskets through the use of case studies. It teaches a process and set of tools for those looking to engage with forest industry data more directly. Taught by Brooks Mendell, Amanda Lang, and Shawn Baker, the class is divided into two half-days of course content where Day 2 builds on Day 1.

This class will be recorded and shared with registered attendees afterwards. You are welcome to sign up and get the class recording and materials!

Individuals who wish to earn CE credit must attend the live webinar.

REGISTRATION CLOSES NEXT TUESDAY

Register by 11:59 pm EST on September 29!

Learn More & Register

Continuing Education Credits

The class qualifies for up to 6 hours of continuing education credit.

The content of Day 2 builds on Day 1. Attendees can attend both days to receive the full 6 hours, or attend one day to receive 3 hours.

CFE (Forestry)
CLE / MTH (Logger / Georgia Master Timber Harvester)
CPE (Accountancy)
Georgia Real Estate/Appraiser

Please Note: This event will be recorded for online viewing afterwards, however, we can only offer Continuing Education Credits to the people who attend the live webinars. In order to be awarded the full credit hours, you must be present for the entire class and you must respond to all polling questions during the presentation.

Course Objectives

Day 1: September 30

Analyzing Current Markets

Presenter: Brooks Mendell. By the end of Day 1, participants will be able to:

Scope a TMA study with an interview guide that specifies the objectives, target audience, decision deadline, required deliverables, and available data and budget.
Delineate an operable, analyzable market boundary by applying the Four S's (shape, size, symmetry, supplies) and local data availability.
Classify wood raw materials as primary, secondary, or tertiary supply sources, and quantify standing pine inventory by product class (pulpwood, chip-n-saw, sawtimber) from filtered USFS FIA data.
Estimate market-level wood demand by adjusting each mill's capacity for procurement-area overlap and capacity utilization, and rank the leading competitors by share of market demand.
Calculate growth-to-drain ratios and net growth, and use them to judge whether a market can support a new mill (e.g., 800,000 tons/year of pine grade).
Assess existing mill risk using five criteria (operating status, end market, recent capital investment, commitment, parent-company strength), and determine when static analysis suffices versus when a forecast is required.

Day 2: October 1

Projecting Future Marketss

Presenters: Shawn Baker & Amanda Lang. By the end of Day 2, participants will be able to:

Evaluate local logging capacity using county-level BLS employment, business counts, and productivity trends, and identify supply chain constraints that affect delivered wood costs.
Construct Base, High, Slow, and special-case scenarios that test assumptions about housing starts, regional production shifts, and wood bioenergy demand.
Project market-specific wood demand by end use, screening announced mill projects for viability based on technology and key milestones.
Apply timber supply model outputs (e.g., SRTS) to forecast changes in inventory and growth-to-drain as harvest levels respond to demand.
Forecast stumpage prices in priority order (level, direction, magnitude, timing), project logging and hauling costs from diesel price drivers, and critique third-party forecasts through back-testing.
Rank competing markets for sawmill or timberland investment with a scoring framework, and structure results into an executive summary that states key findings, assumptions, risks, and recommendations.

Discounts

If your company subscribes to Forisk's research, you can receive 10% off your registration fee! Contact Heather (hsclark@forisk.com) to get the promo code.

This includes the FRQ, the Wood Fiber Review, and the Mill Capacity Database.

Learn More & Register

Thursday, September 24, 2026

Forisk Research Release: Wood Fiber Markets Struggle with Pulpwood and Residuals in Q3

Forisk Research Release

Wood Fiber Markets Struggle with Pulpwood and Residuals in Q3

The Forisk Wood Fiber Review (FWFR) reports flat U.S. weighted average pricing for pulpwood roundwood and chips (combined) in Q3 2026 and down 8% from Q3 2025. Prices for the same products in Canada were down 4% for the quarter and down 3% year-over-year. Delivered softwood roundwood prices increased in the Lake States and Southeast due to fuel costs, while falling in all other regions amidst a surplus of material. Residual chip prices also varied across U.S. regions, down significantly in the Northwest due to oversupply and flat or up in other regions due to transportation costs.

United States

Softwood roundwood: Down 12% in the U.S. Northeast, 8% in the Northwest, and 2% in the South Central region. Up 2% in the Lake States on high transportation costs and up 5% in the Southeast.
Softwood residual chips: Down 13% in the Northwest, where a pulp mill shutdown reduced demand in an already oversupplied market. Up 5% in the Lake States and Southeast on transportation costs.
Hardwood roundwood: Down 6% in the Northwest; up 6% in the Northeast as hardwood mills ran well and increased purchases.
Hardwood residual chips: Down 10% in the Northwest on reduced demand; flat in the South Central region.

“Southeast price increases can be attributed to buyers finding the ‘bottom’ in Q2 following 2025’s demand losses coupled with unexpected wet weather,” noted FWFR Associate Editor, Stephen Wright.

Canada

British Columbia: Delivered softwood roundwood and residual chip prices fell 5% and 10% respectively in Q3 due to slow pulp production and an oversupply of chips.
Eastern Ontario/Quebec: Hardwood roundwood rose 5%; softwood chips rose 1%.
Alberta: Delivered softwood chip prices were flat.

“Current Coastal BC conditions, combined with the PNW’s oversupply from Nippon Dynawave’s downtime in Longview, WA, have caused significant price drops for softwood chips,” said Chris King, Product Manager of the FWFR.

Uncertainty in U.S. trade disputes with Canada combined with higher fuel costs have created challenging circumstances in wood fiber markets, both for buyers and sellers.

About the Forisk Wood Fiber Review

Wood fiber costs account for approximately half of total pulp manufacturing costs in North America. The FWFR includes prices and market commentary for all major North American regions, providing essential data for anyone that needs to track pulpwood, wood chips, and biomass prices in the world’s largest and most dynamic wood fiber markets. The FWFR provides updates on softwood and hardwood prices for major markets in North America. Prices are reported for wood delivered to consuming plants as a range and average. Each report also updates U.S. and Canada trade statistics for lumber, logs, wood pellets, wood chips and pulp.

For more information or to subscribe to the Forisk Wood Fiber Review, visit www.forisk.com or contact: Nick DiLuzio, ndiluzio@forisk.com, 770.725.8447.

About Forisk Consulting: Forisk delivers forecasts and analysis of forest industry markets and timberland investments. Firms participate in Forisk’s research program by subscribing to the Forisk Research Quarterly (FRQ), the Forisk Wood Fiber Review, or the North American Forest Industry Capacity Database; supporting benchmarking studies related to forest operations and mill capacities; and attending educational workshops. www.forisk.com.

Monday, September 21, 2026

Forisk's Timber Market Analysis Class is Next Week

Forisk's Timber Market Analysis Class is Next Week!

Join us virtually via live Zoom webinar on September 30–October 1 for two half-days of practical, case-study-based instruction on understanding, tracking, and analyzing timber markets.

This class will be recorded and shared with registered attendees afterwards. You are welcome to sign up and get the class recording and materials!

Individuals who wish to earn CE credit must attend the live webinar.

REGISTRATION CLOSES NEXT TUESDAY

Register by September 29!

Learn More & Register