"$30 or more for a single 4X8 sheet " The Plywood Scam

[donsu]

http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/4968/index.php

Over the weekend, as residents of North Carolina prepared to batten down the hatches against Hurricane Isabel, they made a disturbing discovery: there is a plywood shortage. Just as bad, those who could get sheets of the stuff paid astronomical prices for it - $30 or more for a single 4X8 sheet that, just last spring, may have cost $12-15. Many observers believe that the immediate cause of the crisis is the commandeering of hundreds of thousands of sheets of plywood for the Iraq reconstruction effort. This summer, the Defense Supply Center ordered 766,498 sheets for use in Iraq. However, this may represent just a tiny fraction of the plywood being shipped to the war-ravaged country. A so-far undisclosed volume of the material has also been ordered by private contractors such as Halliburton, working under government contract.

Here at home, the plywood shortage is universal, from MAINE to California. Some places are harder hit than others. In TEXAS, homeowners who were hammered by this summer's historic hailstorms, found there wasn't enough plywood around to replace their trashed roofs - some waited weeks to close up.

The plywood industry has issued a statement that claims that the wood being shipped to Iraq represents but a small fraction of the total plywood produced and that "a variety of factors have converged" to create the shortage. But after doing a little digging, I have come to the conclusion that this claim amounts to a phony bill of goods. The same bill of goods sold to Americans in the past by the energy industry, or by various industries peddling other universally needed commodities (sugar, coffee and chocolate have experienced manufactured "shortages" in the past, too). These "shortages" always seem to magically disappear as soon as they achieve their goals. What are the goals? In the near term, the goal is, of course to raise prices outrageously and land a big, quick windfall in profits. The longterm goal is usually the securing of legislation favorable to the industry. The idea here is that the public, forced to line up for gas, do without coffee, or wait to fix their roof, will roll over and give the industry whatever it wants with a grateful smile. The reality is, how can there be a plywood shortage when, according to INDUSTRY STATISTICS, 2002 was a recordbreaking year for the material - over 40.34 billion square feet of plywood and oriented strand board churned out, with no slowdown occurring as 2003 progressed. Although new housing starts were recently at a 16-year high, which sucked up a huge amount of plywood, at the same time, nonresidential construction was way down, offsetting this trend in terms of net building materials used. In addition, exports of plywood were down. And, if, as the industry claims, the shipments to Iraq were not signficant in terms of net volume, then how can there be a nationwide shortage?

Here's the bigger picture:
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salvage logging - why they burn forests

[uptohere]

1. the Iraq story is true... partly

the government DID buy all available plywood of a certain type and thinkness in the period that you mention. But it was only treated plywood and either 3/4 or 1 inch thick.

I imagine that the wood business caught back up but the gouging of people in the path of disaster is a longstanding tradition.

[JHB]

4. "The free market in action..."

After Andrew I heard free marketeer radio pundits laud the gougers so much you'd think they'd deserved a F&^$%ing medal for doing their civic duty. :puke:

[bvar22]

2. $29.45 for sheet of plywood this AM.

I just bought a couple of sheets of plywood this AM at Home Depot in Minneapolis (long way from hurricane threats). I can confirm that this article is correct. 6 months ago, this same plywood cost under $15.00.

The hidden costs of the bush*/republican war will be HUGE, and will primarily affect the Middle Class.
The miniscule tax breaks for the Working Class won't begin to cover these costs.

On Edit: The plywood I bought WAS TREATED. But I also checked the prices for untreated 3/4" This price has also doubled to $27.50 per sheet.

[uptohere]

5. thats why my brother in the realestate biz bought a boatload

back when his friends in the building side told him what was happening.

While supply is predicated on a predictable demand, there should have been sufficient time to recover.

Of course its also a great way to improve margins somewhere...

[Bandit]

3. Need to log the Tongass ~ Iraq needs our trees.

What an incredible waste of material and people. I'm so happy we have Bush* instead of Gore. :puke:

[TrogL]

6. Canadian software lumber dispute?

Could this be a factor?

Or is that more for 2 by 4's?

[jburton]

7. Environmentalists Fault

Must open all National Forests to logging.

:eyes: