West Fraser Taking A Week Off Plywood Production

Saturday, March 21, 2009 07:00 AM

Quesnel, B.C. - Six hundred workers at West Fraser's plywood operations in Quesnel and Williams Lake will be off the job for a week starting March 30th .

West Fraser says the production curtailment is necessary because of a continuing weakening of demand for plywood as the downturn in the Canadian housing market continues.

This curtailment is in addition to the production curtailments in lumber production of one to two weeks which began March 16th.

West Fraser recorded a loss of $137 million dollars last year, the worst in the history of the company.

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Posted on Saturday, March 21, 2009 07:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Mercenary on March 21 2009 11:44 AM

I hear that West Fraser is one of the better managed companies out there anyway so these folks will likely be working till the bitter end.

Posted by: DPJ on March 21 2009 11:52 PM

Lets hope the lumber market has hit bottem and is turning around like other base resources seem to have.

Posted by: beesknees on March 22 2009 6:13 AM

Quotes from bloomberg.com:

"West Fraser Timber Credit Rating Cut to Junk by S&P"

"West Fraser Timber Co., Canada�s largest lumber producer by market value, had its credit rating cut to junk by Standard & Poor�s because of expectations that �depressed� demand will hurt profitability."

"�The company will continue to face challenging market conditions for the next two years due to the depressed housing construction market,� S&P said in the statement."

(end quote)

If these analysts are to be believed, then I can see a rough road ahead for lumber producers for the next two years. This is not a reflection of bad management practice, poor employee performance, or unfavourable location. This is also not just a regional slowdown. I really believe we're heading into a worldwide economic slowdown, with some ups, but mostly downs.