Lumbermens Merchandising Corporation (LMC) made $7.9 billion worth of purchases on behalf of its member dealers in 2021, up 44% from a year earlier, the co-op’s President and CEO reported March 24.
The money spent on purchases of panels and specialty wood rose 62% to total more than $3 billion, Paul Ryan said in Tampa, FL, during LMC’s annual conference. Commodity lumber purchases grew 53% to more than $2 billion, while purchases of all other materials climbed 17%, also to more than $2 billion.
Those goods filled more than 150,000 truckloads and accounted for close to a third of the $25 billion in revenues collected by LMC members. In contrast, the nation's biggest full-service lumberyard, Builders FirstSource, took in $19.9 billion last year.
In this, the 87th year of LMC’s existence, the co-op added 22 members last year that together have revenues totaling $950 million. So far this year it has added another 10 dealers.
Ryan listed three initiatives for 2022:
Growing members’ bottom line by helping them make better buying decisions.
Growing members’ revenues. One way to do that will be through LMC’s B2B program, in which it helps facilitate sales of trusses, panels, and other products between members that make those products and members that want to sell those goods. Another possibility is re-entering the gypsum market.
Helping members get into or expand their ecommerce activities.