Pope And Talbot Announces Temporary Shut Downs

By 250 News

Troubled Pope and Talbot has announced a temporary shutdown of two of its lumber mills.

The mills in Castlegar and Grand Forks are to be down for two weeks.

The company says the shut down will start August 20^th and will run through to September 3^rd.

Pope and Talbot says the shut down is necessary to reduce the inventory of finished softwood lumber products and because  of the falling prices of softwood lumber products and the downturn in the U.S. housing market.  "The poor softwood lumber market has led to a situation where it is not profitable for us to run at normal capacity," says Pope and Talbot CEO Harold Stanton "Moving forward, we will continue to make adjustments as the market dictates."

Pope and Talbot ‘s second quarter showed a loss of  $42.9 million dollars (see previous story) .  The company has also entered into an agreement with its lenders which calls for the company to  actively search for a buyer for some or all of its assets .  That agreement runs until the 17^th of September.

Pope and Talbot owns the Mackenzie Pulp Mill and a sawmill in Ft St. James. It also owns  a pulp mill in  Nanaimo, and a sawmill in Midway.

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us