Canfor Pumping Money into Sawmills

Tuesday, December 14, 2010 05:00 PM

Prince George, B.C.-Canfor has announced it plans to move ahead with a $145 million dollar capital plan for 2011 .

The capital plan will be for the lumber business of which $120 million will be spent on improvement projects for Canfor’s sawmill operations.

The balance will be for maintenance projects.

"This level of investment will secure our position in the top tier of competitiveness, and marks an exciting new chapter for Canfor," said Jim Shepard, Canfor President and CEO.

The capital plan is part of a 3 year strategic plan that calls for total investment in sawmill improvement projects of $300 million.

One of the 13 mills which could be impacted by this announcement is the Rustad mill in Prince George, it, along with mills in Vavenby and Radium, have been indefinitely closed.

Canfor spokesperson Dave LeFebvre declined to comment on any specific mills or projects, but when asked if this announcement is a sign Canfor believes the market is improving, he said “I think it would be safe to say Canfor wouldn’t have made this investment a year ago.”

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Posted on Tuesday, December 14, 2010 05:00 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Runner46 on December 14 2010 5:05 PM

reloading the gun

Posted by: pgguru on December 14 2010 5:46 PM

rustads long live!!!

Posted by: Dragonmaster on December 14 2010 6:38 PM

Never would've happened with out the HST!

Posted by: pgguru on December 14 2010 6:43 PM

long live forever and forever rustads!

Posted by: gimmeabreak on December 14 2010 6:44 PM

Way to go Canfor.....who can find anything negative with this??

Oooops...forgot about all the "chicken littles" on this site

Posted by: Eagleone on December 14 2010 7:32 PM

This is part of doing business if you want to stay in business. When you are the size of Canfor with 13 mills each bringing in more than this capital expenditure in revenue alone then the numbers on aggregate should be at least in this ball park or they would be in the business of harvesting their investment and not in it for the long term.

All this means is they are running the company as a going concern and the shareholders are interested in long term stability. Any business that is not being harvested reinvests a few percentage to remain competitive.

So I think the real story here is that Canfor management is not harvesting their assets in the likes of the former Mackenzie mills in past years. And that is good news, but hardly big news. Less then ten million per mill on average is eaten up fairly quickly.

Posted by: Runner46 on December 14 2010 8:25 PM

Ten million per mill is eaten up quickly?
Right.

Posted by: Palopu on December 14 2010 9:58 PM

Like I said before. When I see the logs rolling into the Rustad Mill, then I will be a beleiver. Until then ??????

Posted by: Surefire on December 14 2010 11:29 PM

I've said it before, I cannot afford to pay big buisness's share of taxes for 5 years I'm happy for Canfor and that they can see a future in the lumber industry they have a young energetic work force that are anxious to get back to work. But don't lay the H.S.T. on our backs.

Posted by: gimmeabreak on December 15 2010 3:53 AM

Ok so the "Chicken Little" winners are....

#1. Palopu

#2. Runner45

#3. Surefire (not sure but I think I detected something positive here, but the HST comment put you in the race).

Posted by: northman on December 15 2010 6:46 AM

"Canfor believes the market is improving.."

Regardless of Canfors market speculation the share holders will eat the $145 million dollar risk.

Posted by: mythoughts on December 15 2010 7:11 AM

Add me to the list gimmeabreak. Canfor is doing this at the expense of their employees who have not had a cost of living increase since 2006, almost 5 years. When times were tough & Canfor was not making any money, it was understandable. Now they are making millions and should be compensating the employees. We all know how much costs have gone up and are still going up with BC Hydro announcing 10% increases for the next 3 years. The city utilities are going up again & this time it's a 15% increase. The employees have been hanging in there long enough and should at least get cost of living increases.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on December 15 2010 7:31 AM

Can you say...tax write off's, as the end of the fiscal year approaches?
And I agree completely mythoughts...time that the workers were remembered!
They are not going to stay quiet and ignored for much longer!
Everything is either going up,or has already gone up...except peoples wages.

Posted by: yellow shovel on December 15 2010 8:18 AM

"Canfor has announced it plans to move ahead with a $145 million dollar capital plan" I read it as just that.....they have just anounced it. I can tell the world I'm going to spend $40. grand on my house for reno's anytime I want but at the end of the day....did I or will I? As for gimmeabreak sqawkin away like its carved in stone.....I dunno you better not hold your breath....you might find yourself turning blue real quick.

Posted by: mythoughts on December 15 2010 9:22 AM

don't forget, Canfor has mills in the U.S.A. that will be upgraded with some of this money. it's not all Canadian, if any mills in BC.
http://www.cjdccountry.com/News/Story.aspx?ID=1327760