VANCOUVER, BC, May 9, 2024
/CNW/ - After thorough analysis of the persistent shortage of
economically available timber and challenging operating conditions
in northern British Columbia,
Canfor Corporation (TSX:CFP) announced today the permanent closure
of its Polar sawmill in Bear Lake,
BC and the suspension of its planned reinvestment in
Houston, BC. This follows the
announcement by our subsidiary company, Canfor Pulp, that one line
of production will be indefinitely curtailed at the Northwood Pulp
Mill.
The Polar sawmill, with a production capacity of about 300
million board feet annually, has been curtailed since January 2024. The permanent closure will impact
approximately 180 employees.
Don Kayne, President and CEO,
Canfor Corporation made the following statement today:
"The ability to reliably access enough economic timber to run
our manufacturing facilities is critical for our business.
Unfortunately, while our province has a sufficient supply of timber
available for harvest as confirmed by the Allowable Annual Cut set
by BC's Chief Forester, the actual harvest level has declined
dramatically in recent years. In 2023 the actual harvest was 42
percent lower than the allowable cut, a level not seen since the
1960s.
While this decline is partly the result of natural disturbances
– beetle infestations and wildfire particularly - it is also the
result of the cumulative impact of policy changes and increased
regulatory complexity. These choices and changes have hampered our
ability to consistently access enough economic fibre to support our
manufacturing facilities and forced the closure or curtailment of
many forest sector operations, including our Polar sawmill.
With the policy and regulatory landscape in BC continuing to
shift, it's difficult to predict the operating conditions that we
will face going forward. As such, we have made the difficult
decision to suspend our plan to build a new state-of-the-art
sawmill in Houston, as we are not
confident that an investment of this magnitude can be successful at
this time.
These decisions are heartbreaking for our company that has been
proudly headquartered in BC for more than 85 years. More
importantly, these decisions have a profound impact on our
employees, First Nations partners, contractors, customers,
suppliers, and communities that rely on a healthy forest
industry.
In the weeks ahead, we will work with our union partners to
develop a transition plan that considers severance provisions and
other means to support our impacted employees. We will also seek
opportunities to divest our associated tenure to support other
local manufacturing operations, who are facing the same challenges
accessing fibre, in the hope of preventing another operation from
being closed or curtailed."
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release constitute
"forward-looking statements" which involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be
materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Words such as
"expects", "anticipates", "projects", "intends", "plans", "will",
"believes", "seeks", "estimates", "should", "may", "could", and
variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to
identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are
based on management's current expectations and beliefs and actual
events or results may differ materially. There are many factors
that could cause such actual events or results expressed or implied
by such forward-looking statements to differ materially from any
future results expressed or implied by such statements.
Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and
Canfor assumes no obligation to update such information to reflect
later events or developments, except as required by law.
About Canfor Corporation
Canfor is a global leader in the manufacturing of high-value
low-carbon forest products including dimension and specialty
lumber, engineered wood products, pulp and paper, wood pellets and
green energy. Proudly headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canfor produces
renewable products from sustainably managed forests, at more than
50 facilities across its diversified operating platform in
Canada, the United States and Europe. The Company has a 70% stake in Vida
AB, Sweden's largest privately
owned sawmill company and also owns a 54.8% interest in Canfor Pulp
Products Inc. Canfor shares are traded on The Toronto Stock
Exchange under the symbol CFP. For more information visit
canfor.com.
SOURCE Canfor Corp