The slow upward trend in North American OSB prices has continued for most of October and the first half of November. Recently, however, markets in the western US and Canada have weakened again. In the north central region, according to Random Lengths, prices for the leading 7/16’’ grade had risen to US$500/1,000 sqft fob plant or US$484/m³ by early November. This level still holds in mid-November. In the south east region (plants in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi), prices reached US$460/1,000 sqft in mid-October and have not changed since. In the two other regions surveyed by Random Lengths, prices have eased again slightly in recent weeks, however. In the south west region (plants in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma), prices for 7/16’’ had already exceeded the US$500 mark at the beginning of October, and by mid-October they had reached US$515. In November they fell back to US$500 and thus to the same level as in the north central region. In Western Canada, the corrections have been even more significant. From the US$460 reached at the beginning of November, they had fallen back to US$400 by mid-month.
