Lumber futures ended Thursday at a record high, propelled by a do-it-yourself remodeling boom and resurgent home builders. Lumber for September delivery gained 3.1%, or $19, to settle at $641.60 per thousand board feet. That tops $639, the old high mark. …This time prices have been sent soaring by saw mills that failed to anticipate the coronavirus pandemic setting off a building boom. …Mill owners said it is unlikely they will be able to add much more wood to the market given the time lost when many mills were shut down and the challenges of operating mills in the midst of the pandemic. “We’re pretty close to our maximum at this stage,” Canfor CEO Don Kayne told investors recently. …Challenges for mill owners have included staffing and adding shifts in the South’s pinelands because of rising local infection rates as well as predicting how long the strong demand will last. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access may require a subscription]