Canfor Corp said Monday it is extending the temporary curtailment of sawmill operations in British Columbia announced in November, and will cut operating hours at some sawmills throughout 1Q 2019. It also plans to reduce operating hours at some of its mills throughout 1Q 2019. The company said its sawmills will resume production on January 7, 2019.
The Vancouver, BC-based company says the decision is due to declining lumber prices, high log costs and log supply constraints.
Conifex Timber and West Fraser Timber have also announced temporary curtailments in British Columbia.
Elsewhere, rebuild of Tolko’s Lakeview Division sawmill in Williams Lake, BC, is in full swing with a target restart in February 2019, confirmed plant manager Jason Favel this week.
According to BC Local News, a fire at the mill in November 2017 damaged the saw filer and general sawmill offices, resulting in its shutdown and subsequent reconstruction.
BC Local News
Yet elsewhere, Central Alabama Wood Products is pumping $18 million into its sawmill in the Coosa County town of Nixburg, according to the Alexander City Outlook. The mill is expected to be operational by November 2019. Based in Wetumpka, Central Alabama Wood Products operates three sawmills in Alabama.
The company is replacing one of its current mills with a high-tech sawmill operation. Owners Larry Jones and Pat McGinn say the move will double the mill’s production capacity of hardwood crossties. The investment is for a high-tech sawmill operation replacing one of its current mills at the company’s Nixburg site producing hardwood crossties. The indirect jobs will come from feeding the capacity of the new sawmill.
The company expects 40 to 50 jobs to be created within trucking, logging and timber companies. There is already a market for the crossties.
Owners Larry Jones and Pat McGinn
Central Alabama Wood Products’ corporate headquarters has been in Wetumpka for 25 years and it has other locations in Alabama.