Top Forisk Blog Posts from 2021: Forest Finance, Largest Lumber Firms, and Timber Prices

Visitor traffic on the Forisk Blog increased 44% in 2021 over 2020, for a ninth consecutive year of growth. Thank you! Here are top posts from 2021, along with a few popular posts by topic:

Pros and Cons of Using Net Present Value (NPV)
1. Published in May 2020, this post, which took the top spot for the first time, summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of applying and interpreting NPV generally and for forestry investments.
Who’s Who in Lumber: Top 10 U.S. Lumber Producers
1. Posted in March 2017, this snapshot of U.S. softwood lumber capacity comes from Forisk’s database of North American forest industry capacity.
2. Note: Amanda Lang posted an update to the rankings in December 2021 for the U.S. and all of North America.
Forest Finance: What Does a Negative or Zero NPV Say About My Potential Timberland Investment?
1. This brief post remains in the top three since first hitting the web in January 2013. The core finance question drives traffic to this post, while the timberland angle comes along for the ride.
2. Note: I cover this and related (forest) finance applications and topics in the upcoming “Applied Forest Finance” (virtual) workshop on May 19^th, 2022.
Sawmill Expansions in the U.S. South
1. This September 2021 post by Amanda Lang, with a detailed map of sawmill capital investments in the U.S. South that leverages data from Forisk’s Forest Industry Capacity database, quickly attracted thousands of unique visits.
Why are Timber Prices Low?
1. Published in April of 2021, this post summarizes ten years of Forisk research into forest supplies in the South with links to previous analysis, along with the context provided by regional timberland values and timber prices over the past 30 years.