Welcome to Lumber News for May 18, 2026. We will begin this edition of Lumber News with Southern Yellow Pine.

SYP

Southern yellow pine still took decreases across all dimensions this week but has begun to taper back as the average decrease overall was $7 per thousand board feet.

2x4s and 2x6s were still the leaders of the pack as both widths decreased around $10/mbf.

Nearly all other widths decreased $5/mbf and 2x12s are staying the most stubborn but most lengths of 2x12s dropped $5/mbf as well.

We will likely see one to two more weeks of decreases in the $5/mbf range before prices level off. With prices dropping so quickly like they have the past 5 weeks; we doubt that they will be quick to bounce back up as quickly, as the steep decrease was likely due to inflated prices compared to open market demand.

Low grade seems to be flattening out and we would assume this will be the last week of decreases we see in #3 and #4 and prices will likely plateau for a few weeks.

SPF

The SPF market on the other hand has been flat for over a month now as prices have not fluctuated over $5/mbf in the past 7 weeks. It seems that there is ample inventory available as mills are quick to take counter offers.

OSB

After taking the first increase in months of only $10 last week, OSB prices did not move this week.

We do expect prices to begin very slowly climbing over the summer.

Thanks for reading Lumber News. Call us at 606.547.4455 to have us price a load for you.