Although the opening of the Port of New Orleans is expected to improve the situation, the result of the storm is expected to apply further pressure to the already-strained supplies of cement, rubber and other materials.
The Port of New Orleans is a major gateway for imported building materials.
Still, higher fuel prices and the temporary loss of oil and gas supplies from the Gulf Coast area could affect the production of asphalt, plastic pipes, roofing shingles and other building materials. Lumber prices have already gone up compared with pre-disaster levels.
The composite price for framing lumber rose to $403 per 1,000 board feet Wednesday, up from $375 on Sept. 2, according to Eugene, Ore.-based Random Lengths, a publication that tracks the wood products industry.
On Aug. 26, three days before the hurricane, the price was $355.
Random Lengths noted on its Web site that the hurricane "took down a number of Southern Pine mills, and obliterated tens of millions of board feet of imports at Gulf ports."
Even with the recent increases, lumber prices are still moderate compared with historical benchmarks. In September 2004, for example, the composite price for framing lumber was $467 per thousand board feet.
Katrina is the latest challenge to cement supplies that have been strained in recent years because of greater-than-expected construction activity, heavy demand in China, insufficient shipping capacity, and last year's hurricanes in the southeast.
States along the Mississippi River have been less vulnerable to shortages, in part, because barge traffic has allowed a steady flow of cement to be shipped to the states.
Last week, some states were warned that although they might not have experienced shortages previously, they might now if barge shipments from the Gulf Coast were delayed. In addition, a significant amount of steel imports come through New Orleans, causing some analysts to anticipate a bump-up in steel prices. Some estimates expect steel prices to rise as much as 20 percent.
