Repairing the Market Takes Time and Money

The global economy is a complex machine. I don’t pretend to know all the factors that make it run, much like modern cars, but I do know it doesn’t take much to break it down.

When I was a kid, I used to work on old cars with my dad. Back then, you could tune a carburetor yourself, and there was enough room under the hood to crawl inside if you had to. Behind our barn sat eight or nine broken-down cars, each waiting its turn. We’d haul one out, fix it up, and send it back on the road, always choosing the one that cost the least to repair.
Then came my dad’s 1997 Ford F-150, the first with a sloped aero-dynamic hood and a fuel injector. Years later, when it broke down, it never made it behind the barn. When I asked why, Dad shrugged: “Too complicated. Too expensive.” Electronic issues had made repairs out of reach.

Today, the problem is even worse. My 2017 Honda Ridgeline can’t even start or shift gears because of a short in the control panel. One glitch and the whole thing shuts down. That’s what our economy feels like now: fragile, unpredictable, and far too easy to stall.

For hardwood, the breakdown points are clear. Tariffs on incoming goods and equipment, retaliatory tariffs on our exports, and rising interest rates all drive lumber prices down while pushing production costs up. No single fix exists. It’s complicated. It’s expensive. And we’re stuck in the middle of it.

The administration is trying to boost U.S. exports and domestic production. Still, these efforts can hurt industries like hardwood lumber, which already maintains a trade surplus and makes an easy target for retaliation. In a global market this interconnected, one disruption can set off a chain reaction. It already has, multiple times, and it will again.

The hardwood market has become like my Ridgeline: every repair costs more, and the question becomes whether to keep fixing it or walk away. For now, I continue to repair it because a new truck is even more expensive and comes with its own risks. In the same way, we patch up our broken-down market, one repair at a time.

If there were an easy solution, we’d have found it years ago. What we need are stronger pulp markets, better cogeneration facilities to handle byproducts, and improved infrastructure, including more rail lines, increased trucking capacity, and expanded uses for secondary products such as bedding and crane mats. But most of all, we need more value-added commodities: thermally modified lumber, pressure-treated lumber, glued and molded lumber, structural lumber, and beyond.

That’s where NHLA is stepping in, working to develop value-added markets that diversify your options and provide lower-cost “repairs” to keep you running. But we can’t do it alone. Please don’t wait for us to call and offer a tow. Take action. Reach out. Get involved.

Repairing the market will take time and money. But together, we can keep it running and keep on trucking.

Dallin Brooks
NHLA Executive Director
[email protected] | 901-377-0182