After the bell on Monday Western Forest Products (WEF) announced the loss of over 50M board feet of annual lumber capacity after a fire totalled one of its sawmills in Washington.

The news follows a 350M annual board feet loss due to the closure of two U.S. sawmills by Canfor (CFP), who says the decision was driven by weak market conditions and financial losses at the facilities.

The lost production represents just under 1% of North American consumption, which continues to soften on the back of weaker housing demand…

… but if capacity keeps getting sucked out of the market lumber could find its footing and so too could Canadian lumber stocks, which are trading in-line with historical averages.

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