Boise Cascade (BCC) Risk Factors

Wood fiber is our principal raw material, which accounted for approximately 40% of the aggregate amount of materials, labor, and other operating expenses (excluding depreciation) for our Wood Products segment in 2023. Our primary source of wood fiber is logs. Log prices have been historically cyclical in response to changes in domestic and foreign demand and supply. In the future, we expect the level of foreign demand for log exports from the western U.S. to fluctuate based on the economic activity in China and other Pacific Rim countries, currency exchange rates, trade policies, and the availability of log supplies from other countries such as Canada, Russia, and New Zealand. Sustained periods of high log costs may impair the cost competitiveness of our manufacturing facilities. In our Pacific Northwest operations, a substantial portion of our logs are purchased from governmental authorities, including federal, state, and local governments. As a result, existing and future governmental regulation can affect our access to, and the cost of, such timber. Future domestic or foreign legislation and litigation concerning the use of timberlands, timber harvest methodologies, forest road construction and maintenance, the protection of endangered species, forest-based carbon sequestration, the promotion of forest health, and the response to and prevention of catastrophic wildfires can affect log and fiber supply from both government and private lands. Availability of harvested logs and fiber may be further limited by pandemics, fire, insect infestation, disease, ice storms, windstorms, hurricanes, flooding, changing temperature and precipitation patterns, and other natural and man-made causes, thereby reducing supply and increasing prices. Changes in global climate conditions could amplify one or more of these factors. If we are unable to negotiate purchases for our log requirements in a particular region to satisfy our log needs at satisfactory prices or at all, which could include private purchases, open-market purchases, and purchases from governmental sources, it could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. We also purchase OSB, which is used as the vertical web to assemble I-joists. OSB accounted for approximately 5% of the aggregate amount of materials, labor, and other operating expenses (excluding depreciation) for our Wood Products segment in 2023. OSB is a commodity, and prices have been historically volatile in response to industry capacity restarts and operating rates, inventory levels in various distribution channels, and seasonal demand patterns. Wood fiber also includes, to a lesser extent than OSB, lumber purchased from third parties for I-joist production at our Canadian EWP facility and for production at our laminated beam plant in Idaho. Lumber input costs are subject to similar commodity-based volatility characteristics noted above for OSB.

Our key managers are important to our success and may be difficult to replace because they have a significant amount of experience in wood products manufacturing and building materials distribution. While our senior management team has considerable experience, certain members of our management team are nearing or have reached retirement age. In addition, certain of our employees have assumed key roles in recent years and may not have the experience of retiring key managers. The failure to successfully formulate and implement succession plans for retiring employees, implement training plans for new key managers, or our inability to attract new talent to our Company, could result in inadequate depth of institutional knowledge or inadequate skill sets, which could adversely affect our business.

Our business depends on the transportation of a large number of products via rail or truck. In Wood Products, we rely on third parties for inbound receipt of raw materials and outbound movement of finished goods. In BMD, we rely primarily on third parties for inbound receipt of the products we resell and manage the outbound movement of products to our customers with a combination of internal and external resources. In addition, we are subject to seasonal capacity constraints and weather-related delays for rail and truck transportation. If any of these providers fail to deliver raw materials or finished goods for resale to us in a timely manner, we may be unable to meet our customer demands. In addition, if any of our third-party transportation providers fail to deliver the goods we manufacture or distribute in a timely manner, we may be unable to sell those products at full value. In addition, if any of these third parties were to cease operations or cease doing business with us, we may be unable to replace them at a reasonable cost. Any failure of a third-party transportation provider to deliver raw materials or finished products in a timely manner could harm our reputation, negatively affect our customer relationships, and have a material adverse effect on our operating results, cash flows, and financial condition. In addition, an increase in transportation rates or fuel surcharges could adversely affect our sales, profitability, and cash flows.

A portion of the building products we produce or distribute, including OSB, plywood, and lumber, are commodities that are widely available from other manufacturers or distributors with prices and volumes determined frequently in an auction market based on participants' perceptions of short-term supply and demand factors. At times, the price for any one or more of the products we produce or distribute may fall below our cash production or purchase costs, requiring us to either incur short-term losses on product sales or curtail production at one or more of our manufacturing facilities. Therefore, our profitability with respect to these commodity products depends, in significant part, on effective facilities maintenance programs, and on managing our cost structure, particularly raw materials and labor, which represent the largest components of our operating costs. Commodity wood product prices have historically been volatile in response to economic uncertainties, industry operating rates, supply-related disruptions, transportation constraints or disruptions, net import and export activity, inventory levels in various distribution channels, and seasonal demand patterns. Demand for the products we manufacture, as well as the products we purchase and distribute, is correlated with new residential construction, residential repair-and-remodeling activity and light commercial construction in the U.S. New residential construction activity has historically been volatile with demand for new residential construction influenced by seasonal weather factors, mortgage availability and rates, housing affordability constraints, unemployment levels, wage growth, household formation rates, domestic population growth, immigration rates, residential vacancy and foreclosure rates, demand for second homes, consumer confidence, and other general economic factors. Furthermore, changing demographics could impact product consumption and demand, including urbanization compounding issues around affordability, increasing importance of multi-family housing, declining size of single-family entry-level housing, increasing proportion of homes in warmer and/or coastal areas using slab-on-grade construction, reduced birthing statistics, and changing baby boomer needs freeing up housing capacity. Industry supply for the products we produce and distribute is influenced primarily by price-induced changes in the operating rates of existing facilities, but is also influenced over time by the introduction of new product technologies, capacity additions and closures, the restart of idled capacity, and log availability. The balance of supply and demand in the U.S. is also heavily influenced by imported products, principally from Canada and South America. We have very limited control of the preceding, and as a result, our profitability and cash flow may fluctuate materially in response to changes in the supply and demand balance for our primary products.

We may be involved in product liability, product warranty, casualty, manufacturing and construction defects, and other claims relating to the products we manufacture and distribute, and services we provide. We also rely on manufacturers and other suppliers to provide us with many of the products we sell and distribute. Because we do not have direct control over the quality of such products manufactured or supplied by such third-party suppliers, we are exposed to risks relating to the quality of such products. In addition, we are exposed to potential claims arising from the conduct of our employees, and homebuilders and their subcontractors, for which we may be contractually liable. Although we currently maintain what we believe to be suitable and adequate insurance in excess of our self-insured amounts, there can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain such insurance on acceptable terms or that such insurance will provide adequate protection against potential liabilities. Product liability, product warranty, casualty, construction defect, and other claims can be expensive to defend and can divert the attention of management and other personnel for significant periods, regardless of the ultimate outcome. Claims of this nature could also have a negative impact on our reputation and customer confidence in our products and our company. We cannot assure that any current or future claims will not adversely affect our financial condition, operating results, and cash flows.

Our businesses are subject to a wide range of general and industry-specific environmental laws and regulations, particularly with respect to air emissions, wastewater discharges, solid and hazardous waste management, and site remediation. Compliance with these laws and regulations is a significant factor in the operation of our businesses. Enactment of new environmental laws or regulations, or changes in existing laws or regulations might require us to make significant expenditures or restrict operations. As an owner and operator of real estate, we may be liable under environmental laws for the cleanup of past and present spills and releases of hazardous or toxic substances on or from our properties and operations. We may also be contractually obligated to indemnify third parties under environmental laws for the cleanup of past spills and releases of hazardous or toxic substances for properties which we no longer own and operate. We could be found liable under these laws whether or not we knew of, or were responsible for, the presence of such substances. In some cases, this liability may exceed the property's value. We may be unable to generate funds or other sources of liquidity and capital to fund unforeseen environmental liabilities or expenditures to the extent we are not indemnified by third parties. For example, in connection with prior transactions, certain third parties are generally obligated to indemnify us for hazardous substance releases and other environmental violations that occurred prior to such transactions. However, these third parties may not have sufficient funds to fully satisfy their indemnification obligations when required, and in some cases, we may not be contractually entitled to indemnification by them. For additional information on how environmental regulation and compliance affects our business, see "Environmental" in "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" of this Form 10-K.