Posted on 01/22/2015 5:58:17 AM PST by blam
Tyler Durden
01/21/2015
While Crude Oil and Dr. Copper are often cited as economic indicators, as @Not_Jim_Cramer notes, in fact Lumber prices are the most correlated with ISM and GDP of all industrial commodities. That is a problem. Lumber prices are tumbling and are breaking the 6-year up-trend that has 'proved' the recovery. With no CCFD manipulation and less financialization than crude, perhaps Lumber is the real canary in the economic collapse coalmine...
Lumber is the most correlated to ISM and GDP of all the industrial commodities... and that is not good for the US economy...
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Assuming your statement is correct, “Hemp paper is good for 200+ years, so is much better for valuable books”, it will, as the Sharks say, likely remain a niche market.
Unlikely the paper industry is concerned, if for no other reason the shear volume. Pound for pound, all the legal hemp grown in the US probably will not surpass one truckload of pulpwood trees.
Also makes a much better line for ships and boats then what is currently available. Less rot than other natural fibers and less snap back than nylon.
“Lumber prices are tumbling...”
Ha! Is that 2x4’s or gold bars they’re selling at the local lumber yard? I bought a trailer load of lumber last month, and it ain’t cheap.
Except that time and expense are factors. Figure on two hemp crops a year, compared to say 20 years for tree maturity. Plus logging and transport is quite expensive, but much of the processing for hemp could be done in the harvester before it even leaves the field.
Importantly, the paper industry is already mostly tooled to handle hemp pulp, which needs fewer steps in the process.
You can probably calculate that with legalization, hemp agriculture would have a production boom in the amount of acreage; so the first bottleneck would be in processing it.
Canada’s yield curve has inverted...recession for them.
Dream on, it does not hurt anything and is entertaining.
I am by no means opposed to canabis, but I sure hope we don’t begin growing enough to replace pulp wood, none of us would have anything except the munchies.
While hemp is of the same species as marijuana, the latter breeds have been selectively bred for the female plants to produce a lot of the resins which contain the drug. For this reason, marijuana growers carefully cull any male plants, because once pollinated, female plants stop exuding resin.
So growing hemp is the *worst* thing to do to those growing marijuana, as its pollen will pollinate their female plants, significantly reducing the quantity and potency of their resin; and even their seeds will produce far lower grade marijuana.
An analogy is that someone raises AKC Bichon Frisé female dogs for sale, and their next door neighbor has a bunch of male dachshund mutts, and a fence between the two is in disrepair. Not only are the Bichon Frisé significantly devalued by becoming pregnant, but their puppies are worthless.
So the bottom line is that hemp and marijuana are “apples and oranges”. Hemp is an exceedingly useful raw material, and marijuana is, well, marijuana.
The only reason hemp has been outlawed is because it *looks* like marijuana. But if you wanted to smoke it to get high, it would take a wheelbarrow of it to do so.
Ditch weed tokin.
OK Professor, this may be exciting and new to you, but lots are well versed in your dissertation long ago.
I wouldn’t have and didn’t guess by your previous post, which just came across as an under-informed snark by someone who equates marijuana and hemp.
My FRiend, there is no genetic difference in hemp plants and marijuana plants. The difference is how it is cultivated for what end-use.
Plant you a hundred acres of “hemp” and see how fast the Gubmit takes to lock you up. That’s realville, not some funny movie from Cheech and Chong.
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