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After a big drop in July, crosstie production rebounded in a big way last month. August production totaled 2.1 million units, jumping 32 percent compared with July's output of 1.6 million units, according to the Railway Tie Association's (RTA) monthly tie market report.

However, tie purchases totaling 1.8 million units decreased 12 percent compared with July, when purchases soared from June's level.

The inventory-to-sales ratio increased slightly from 0.80 in July to 0.81 in August.

RTA's 12-month rolling data shows tie production totaling 21 million units and tie purchases, 20.4 million units.

"Purchases are 1 percent below last year and production is 7 percent behind," the RTA report states. "These reductions are from levels that are very high by recent standards."