After a pretty decent start a few weeks ago when the administration of the US mentioned lumber tariffs on Canadian Lumber imports, these same companies kind of stalled out. I am speaking of Simpson and Louisiana Pacific. Weyerhaeuser $WY (the dollar sign signifies the stocks ticker symbol) seems to be a bit stronger. I repositioned myself more into Tobacco for the dividend of over 7% for MO (Altria) and very little in lumber until the tariffs start to benefit more lumber harvesting here in the US. Part of that is it will take time to lighten EPA and Environmental restrictions on logging. I worked personally in the logging business as a log scaler in the 1970’s and since that time the forests in the western US have not been logged as much. Lots of beetles have infested our forests due to drought and thinning of bark and no allowances of spraying pesticides to stop the beetles. As well, logging has become super expensive for loggers due to red tape, cost of insurance, worker’s compensation expense and lack of allowed logging permits. Traditionally loggers were allowed to “thin out” forests of trees that showed beginning of pests or disease and the lumber logged was still usable. The logs were taken to local lumber mills who paid the USForest Service per board foot buying the logs, and reselling them as boards and pulp. With the advent of stricter laws and a change in sentiment in the agency of government and the US Forest Service, the logging business in the Western US dropped off. It remains to be seen if the US timber cutting business will be allowed to re start to fill in the gap lost from the Canadian and other countries timber we imported. It is a sure thing that it will take some time! All content on this site is for information and entertainment only. It is not a solicitation or to be construed as investment advice. ALWAYS CONSULT WITH YOUR LICENSED FINANCIAL EXPERT BEFORE MAKING INVESTMENT CHOICES AND DECISIONS.