You are forgetting the exchange rate on US dollars vs. Canadian dollar.
The least expensive lumber in the world is produced in the southern United States.
It is also a function of production verses demand. Canada produces more lumber than it consumes domestically.
Yes, it costs less to transport from Castlegar, BC to Coeur D’Alene, ID than it does from Warrenton, OR to Coeur D’Alene. My 2x10 example/trade. It is a function of the mileage @ $3.00/mile. That is why people in Texas buy southern yellow pine grown and sawn in Texas.
I sell some European lumber in North Carolina. Most of the eastern cost of the US has ports with lumber coming in from Germany, Austria, Sweden and Russia. I sell it to a customer in Goldsboro, NC. The boat comes into Wilmington, NC. The trucking from the port makes it competitive into NC & SC. It will not be competitive in Memphis, TN because the trucking freight it too expensive. So, yes it is a function of freight and the exchange rate between the EURO and the US dollar.
All commodities(oil, lumber, wheat , corn, rice, coffee) sell throughout the world based on their transportation cost and their exchange rate with various currencies.
AS far as the EPA. Yes, they have driven many industries overseas. So has OSHA. We sell ice melter products in the winter months(rock salt and calcium chloride). Most of the rock salt comes from mines around the great lakes. They also mine rock salt in NM and UT. The rock salt we sell in the northeast comes from a mine south of Rochester, NY. The customers who buy rock salt in Montana get it from Salt Lake in Utah. It is a function of freight costs.
The calcium chloride we buy comes from DOW chemical in Michigan. They are one of the only producers left in the US. Almost all the rest of the calcium chloride used in the US comes from China. I suspect it has something to do with the governments regulations of chemical plants.
Bookmark.
Woodbutcher, I read your comments on this thread with great interest. Your points are fascinating and it’s rare to find such trade expertise on FR, and to have it presented so clearly.
You show how adaptive the market is. Capitalism finds a way to get the products it wants or needs.
If you apply pressure on one end, it creates opportunities somewhere else.
Your mentioned the least expensive lumber in the world is produced in the southern United States.
As I drive the highways of Georgia, I’ve noticed that logging operators have come along and thinned the edge of the forest as it meets the highway.
So they are beautifying the highway, preventing the spread of fires, and extracting wood for lumber all at the same time. Big machines with long arms come along and grab a tree, cut it down, and haul it away so it can be loaded into trucks.
Found a cool video showing this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JicItt4CxlI
Never underestimate American ingenuity.