Lumber Prices on Steady Decline

DULUTH, Minn.– Some good news for those who need lumber for home projects, building and more. Prices seem to be on the decline.

We talked to the Hermantown-based business Minardi Lumber and Millwork about prices after they went up during the pandemic. According to Nick Minardi, Vice President of Operations, for the past two months prices on lumber have been dropping. However, he says they’re still higher than normal due to Canadian tariffs and transportation issues across the US-Canadian border.

“What’s been challenging is the FEDs doubled the lumber tariff at the end of last year,” says Minardi, “They’ve reduced it a little bit to try and right size it, but there’s still a massive tariff for inbound lumber into the United States. That just makes the Canadian mills not produce quite as much, but even with that and the Covid restrictions its been challenging to bring lumber into the United States.”

Minardi recommends buying lumber locally and as early as you can, as demand goes up again when spring projects get underway. He adds that he expects we’ll see lumber prices hit a two year average by the end of April or early May.