CANFOR CUTTING PRODUCTION

Canfor Corp. will be reducing production at its B.C. sawmills by about 10 per cent this quarter, the company said Thursday.

“We have made the difficult decision to curtail our B.C. sawmill operations over the fourth quarter due to log supply challenges following another difficult wildfire season, uncompetitive log costs and declining lumber prices,” Canfor CEO Don Kayne said in a statement. “We are working to mitigate impacts on our employees as much as possible.”

The curtailment will come in the form of decreased operating days and extended downtime at Christmas.

Last week, Canfor reported third-quarter earnings of $125.3 million, doubled from the year before despite lower lumber prices. However, the figure was down from the second quarter when Canfor took in $169.8 million and West Fraser $346 million.

Lumber prices soared as U.S. export duties were initially passed on to consumers, but those have subsequently decreased. As of the week ending Oct. 25, the price of top-quality two-by-fours at the Prince George Inland Container Terminal stood at US$334 per thousand board feet, down from US$456 at the same point last year, according to Madison’s Lumber Reporter.

The move comes as the union representing about 1,600 workers at 13 northern B.C. sawmills – including Canfor’s PG Sawmill and Isle Pierre sawmills – continue a campaign of rotating strikes in a bid to win a new contract. Members of United Steelworkers Local 1-2017 were picketing Tolko’s Soda Creek operation in Williams Lake on Thursday.

As well, members of three USW locals representing about 3,500 sawmill workers in the southern Interior have voted in favour of giving their bargaining committee a strike mandate.