MESSAGE BY MD

SPIKE IN LUMBER PRICES

PRESS RELEASE – SPIKE IN LUMBER PRICES

Wednesday, September 23, 2020 – CTL Home Center is informing our valued customers of a significant increase in lumber prices due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and US Tariffs.

The US National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has reported an increase in lumber
prices due to “insufficient domestic production and tariffs on Canadian sources, the price of lumber has staged a staggering increase in recent months, rising roughly 80% since mid-April to an average price above $600 per thousand board feet. This increase will add thousands of dollars to the cost of a typical newly-built home, thereby constraining housing supply, exacerbating affordability woes and limiting housing’s economic impact”.

CTL Home Center’s Managing Director,  Michael Thomas also recognized through his suppliers that lumber prices have escalated in the US, Latin America and the Caribbean, due to the diminished supply caused by the pandemic and the recent additional 20 percent importation tariffs imposed by the United States on Canadian supplies.

Mr. Thomas also pointed out that production in South America, which produces construction plywood has also reduced significantly, due to the partial opening or complete shutdown of mills. This he deduced will increase the cost of construction
plywood as well.

“I believe that it is my civic duty to inform our valued customers about this unfortunate increase in lumber prices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that will result in increased construction cost for our home builders” Mr. Thomas asserted.
Mr. Thomas added that “the industry is indicating that prices are going to drop but it is not expected to return to pre COVID-19 levels anytime soon.”
CTL Home Center is reassuring customers that our prices will remain the same until it is time to replenish our inventory and we will do all we can to make lumber prices as affordable as possible.

MESSAGE BY MD

COVID -19 – STATEMENT

 

COVID 19: CTL RESPONSE – 5th April, 2020

CTL’S LEADER APPEALS FOR STRICT ADHERENCE TO COVID-19 GUIDELINES

Statement by Michael Thomas, Managing Director of CTL Home Center

On behalf of the management and staff of CTL Home Center, I am taking this opportunity to encourage all of the residents of these Beautiful Virgin Islands to please strictly adhere to our government’s directives for our protection from the coronavirus. My fellow residents these instructions are not for our punishment or our inconvenience, they are for our wellness protection, our social protection, and our economic protection.

Disobedience to the crowd-reduction initiative, the prescribed hygiene practices and the social distancing practices will result in a number of undesired consequences. 

Non-adherence to these directives means that all of the gains that we may have made toward controlling and slowing the spread of the virus during our first six-day curfew may have been reversed. Any increase of infections or any deaths would necessitate additional and longer periods of curfew, which will result in longer periods of business closures; longer periods of unemployment; significant reduction of money circulation, a significant increase of social unrest and antisocial behavior, that will lead to the eventual destruction of our economy and the total loss of our hard fought for social, political and economic growth and development. This is an untenable situation and is therefore not an option.

My fellow residents of these beautiful Virgin Islands, as outlined, our behavior during this critical time is of the utmost importance to our social, political and economic survival. I am pleading with you, for the safety and security of all of us, please, let us each take personal responsibility for the survival of all of us and the sustainability of this beautiful land we call our home.

Please be safe. May God continue to protect us. CTL cares.

About CTL Home Center: The family owned and operated Clarence Thomas Limited Home Center has served the Virgin Islands community for 50 years. The stores locations on Tortola and Virgin Gorda plus drive through Lumberyard provide the BVI community with all of its home building, improvement and maintenance supplies; lumber, plumbing, electrical, marine and lawn and garden supplies; hand and power tools and small and large appliances as well as an extensive stock of home products; quality paints as well as office supplies and much more.