Anson timber industry weathers pandemic

WADESBORO — Curious hands looking to get crafty during coronavirus lockdowns led to people buying up lumber, causing a significant price increase and national shortage. Anson County, a major timber producer, fortunately has not felt the impacts of the shortage as companies never stopped producing wood.

The simple model of lumber production starts with the timber farms in the area. Timber then gets sold to saw mills which process the wood and then resell to distributors, where you would find your wood.

“In the timber market, we see record prices for lumber,” said Jeff Boothby, President and CEO of the Wadesboro-based Woodsmen Forestry, PLLC. “The growing demand caused by the shortage in our country has made there be a very strong demand from saw mills in the region.”

The National Association of Home Builders reported an increase of 80% since mid-April to an average price above $600 per thousand board feet. The prices for timber getting sold to saw mills, which process the wood and then resell, have not changed significantly, according to Boothby.

Instead Boothby noted an interesting and out-of-the-ordinary decrease in pulpwood prices, or wood produced to create paper, due to schools and businesses not in session.

“There is still a decent demand for pulpwood and we all expect that, once the economy opens back up and kids get back to school, that the short term turmoil should resolve itself,” Boothby said. “As the demand returns, which will then mean that quotas won’t be so bad and prices should start to recover from where they’ve been.”

Boothby said Anson is lucky in not experiencing too much of a market place change, only a small decrease on the price of pulpwood.

The Carolinas in general produce significantly more wood than the saw mills can process each year, according to Boothby. The forest product industry actually employees more people in the Carolina’s than any other industry between the manufacturing, logging companies, and foresters, than any other sector.

“(Timber) is our number two industry,” Boothby said. “Agriculture is number one in Anson County and timber is number two. When you look at exports from our state for both North and South Carolina… the number one export classification is forest product.”

The logging and forest side of the industry in the Anson area has been able to comfortably sustain itself, although the weather sometimes plays a factor into any hiccups, as it does every year.

In terms of the pandemic, timber farms in the area were able to maintain production with no problem, as the industry was deemed essential.

“Not only were we designated as essential business, but we were also able to take to the measures that were needed in the mills to prevent a significant outbreak of the virus,” Boothby said.

Boothby said because of the precautions taken in this industry, there has not been an outbreak of cases. There may have been an employee here or there that tested positive, but because of the precautions taken, there are no clusters of COVID-19 in the mills.

Next time you are interested in a home project, be aware of the price of wood, as the consumer price increased, but the county’s production of wood is still in full swing.