Finished Product Inventories and Price Expectations in the Softwood Lumber Industry

A monthly model is presented of the U.S. softwood lumber sector. Price expectations and beginning‐period inventories have important roles in producers' production, sales, and inventory decisions. Cross‐price effects among domestic producing regions are minimal. However, there is substantial competition between U.S. and Canadian producers. Our model produces supply elasticities, demand elasticities, and inventory response parameters that are different from and more comprehensive than those obtained in previous work.