A New Voice for the Crosstie Industry

Welcome to the first edition of Crosstie Purchasing News, a quarterly publication of Gross & Janes Co. This newsletter is dedicated to providing important news and information affecting the procurement side of the railroad crosstie industry. We are a one-stop source for the latest trends and market conditions that impact the cost and availability of wood railroad crossties now and in the future.

Our intention is to tell the story behind the industry, from timber harvesting and sawmill operations to the drying, treatment, shipping and delivery of finished crossties. We will cover weather impacts, timber conditions, the cost and availability of logs, sawmill wages, regional forestry industry trends and other inputs specifically affecting crosstie production. We will also report on what the industry is doing to address the ongoing impact of crosstie procurement and production.

We are a new voice for the crosstie industry…a voice dedicated to education on how this industry operates and what the future holds for everyone involved. Please send us your comments and suggestions for future editions. Thank you.

Marketplace Report – First Quarter 2011

This report is broken down into four primary log harvesting regions covering portions of Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi (see map). It covers both oak and mixed wood logs.

Overall lumber sales in these regions continue to be slow, a trend that is carrying forward from 2010. Paper mills and chip mills are full, and hardwood pulp inventories are not moving.

Weather conditions have been quite varied among the regions, creating different impacts on log harvesting and supplies.

• Heavy rains have hindered logging in the Arlatex and Southern Arkansas regions. Expect log production and supplies to slow down.
• Dry weather in the East Texas region could quickly evaporate log supply. Pulpwood demand is virtually non-existent, further evaporating log supply.

In addition, rising fuel prices are increasing the cost of log production and marketing.

A random survey of selected sawmills was taken the week of April 18, 2011 to develop this non-scientific snapshot of the crosstie purchasing market. Following are the results of this sawmill survey.