Cheslatta Forest Products To Close

Monday, October 23, 2006 02:27 PM

Cheslatta Forest Products has announced it is shutting down for an indefinite period of time. The shut down impacts 63 workers at the mill south of Burns Lake and a further 70 indirect jobs through contractors and logging truck drivers.

The shut down is to take effect at the end of the month.

Falling lumber prices are being blamed for the closure. Bill Kordyban, President of Carrier Lumber which operates Cheslatta Forest Product in a joint venture, says all lumber producers will have to cut back because "There simply is too much production".

Lumber producers had been churning out product to ship south prior to the new softwood lumber agreement taking effect. There is a glut of lumber sitting in yards south of the border as housing starts in the U.S. have dropped dramatically over the past couple of months.

Since the implementation of the new softwood deal, there have been numerous announcements of mill shutdowns. While it started in Eastern Canada with closures in Quebec and Ontario, mills in B.C. are now announcing shutdowns and downtime.

Canfor announced a two week shut down of its sawmill in Mackenzie. It will be closed this week and next, while the PolarBoard OSB mill will be down the last two weeks of November and the last two weeks of December. Canfor also announced the closure of its finger joint lumber line in Grande Prairie. That shut down to take effect November 13th and the length of shutdown is listed as "indefinite".

Tolko recently announced it was dropping its third shift at Wood Quest in Quesnel in with a direct impact on 34 workers, Tolko also recently announced 140 layoffs at its plywood division in Kelowna.

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