The illiquidity in the lumber futures market only exacerbated the wild price swings over the past years. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) replaced the old random-length lumber futures with a new physical contract in 2023 to address the liquidity issues. The physical contract is smaller and more flexible, providing more delivery grades and locations than the random-length contract.
In a May 17, 2023, Barchart article, I wrote:
