In July, tie production fell 8.7 percent to 1.4 million units and purchases dropped 13.7 percent to 1.9 million units compared with June levels, according to the Railway Tie Association's (RTA) latest market report.

On a year-over-year basis, production plunged 14.1 percent and purchases plunged 14.3 percent.

Year to date, production totaled 9.98 million ties, down 21.1 percent compared with the same period last year. Tie purchases through the first seven months of 2018 fell 5.3 percent to 12.99 million units compared with the first seven months of 2017.

Meanwhile, 12-month rolling totals through July showed purchases declined at a 0.1 percent annual rate. Production is trending lower and is down by a 24.4 percent annual rate. The inventory-to-sales ratio was 0.67, down by 0.22 compared with a year ago, RTA reported.