Chicago, August 19 - Lumber prices rose to the highest level in 10 years Wednesday, as Florida's homeowners and businesses rebuild after Hurricane Charley according to Bloomberg News.
Lumber futures for September delivery rose $15, the maximum increase allowed by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, to $442 per 1,000 feet of two-by-fours.
The price is the highest for a most active contract since March 1994, and the 3.5 percent gain was the biggest in seven months. Prices could possibly reach $450 to $465 in the coming weeks.
The Merc increased its limit for price swings after futures rose by $10, the previous maximum, in the past two sessions. The price surged 9.5 percent since Thursday. Before Friday, lumber prices already had increased 36 percent in the past year as housing demand surged.
"We have seen significant increases" in lumber sales in the hardest-hit Florida towns of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte, said Ron Jarvis, vice president of lumber merchandising at Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc.
Home Depot Inc. shipped an extra 440,000 sheets of plywood into stores in the Ft. Myers and Tampa areas before the storm and froze prices in the state. Jarvis said the price freeze would last "as long as possible."
