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The crosstie market gained a bit of steam last month as production climbed 20 percent to 1.95 million units, purchases rose 29 percent to 1.93 million units and inventories remained stable vs. February's level at 16.3 million units, according to the Railway Tie Association’s (RTA) market report for March. The inventory-to-sales ratio held steady at 0.79.

In the first quarter, production topped the 5 million mark at 5.3 million units — the highest level in the past six quarters, the report states. Purchases rebounded from a “rather weak fourth quarter” to increase 23 percent to 5.1 million units, RTA said.

Meanwhile, 12-month rolling data shows production and purchases maintained momentum from the past several months. Purchases eased only slightly from February to 20.7 million units while production reached 19.1 million units — a continued recovery from less than 16 million units in August 2010, the report states. Inventories have dropped 8.5 percent since March 2010, RTA said.