The CEO of the largest US lumber producer says that the commodity’s sky-high price is not the new normal, even as he foresees sustained demand over the next decade

• Weyerhaeuser CEO said the sky-high price of the commodity is unsustainable, Bloomberg reported.
• “I don’t think $1,000 lumber prices are the new normal,” CEO Devin Stockfish said.
• Weyerhaeuser is America’s largest lumber producer. It owns 11 million acres of timberland.
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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.