Canfor Mum On Shutdowns
By 250 News
Prince George, B.C. - Canfor is not prepared to say which of its saw mills will be facing downtime or for how long. “We are making those announcements internally “ says Canfor Vice President of Manufacturing, Mark Feldinger. Canfor has already announced the Christmas break will be extended, and some mills are facing downtime before then.
Canfor finds itself in a difficult situation in that if it cuts back too much at its sawmills, it will have a negative impact on its pulp operations and right now, it’s the pulp side that is making money. “We will cut back production as much as we possibly can without upsetting our own market” says Canfor CEO James Shepard. Canfor is panning to cut back lumber production by ¼ billion board feet during this fourth quarter, and will do so again in 2008 if the market demand remains low.
Experts are now saying the U.S. housing market will not show any signs of recovery until 2009. Shepard says the company will continue to work towards matching production with demand “If the market continues to ratchet down, we will ratchet down, we will be market responsive – full stop.”
Canfor has recorded losses of over $123 million dollars this year, the losses are blamed on the low demand , dropping lumber prices and the high Canadian dollar
Shepard says the company is poised to take advantage of the deep financial troubles being faced by some of its competitors.
“I’m an eternal optimist that the worse it gets, those who manage their balance sheet will be able to take advantage of opportunities.” He pointed to the situation with Pope and Talbot, which has filed for protection from its creditors. Shepard said Canfor will be looking to take advantage of situations and buy up properties as they become available. “This won’t be last man standing, there will be last men standing and we will be one of them.”
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Posted by: herbster on November 2 2007 9:30 AM
We are dealing with a whole new ball game, and I really feel for those involved.
Ever notice how little the government has to say on the forest industry throughout the north?
Apparently, they have come up with a plan to help the coastal forest industry but they are extremely quiet on this neck of the woods.
What do they know that they are not telling?
What do our local politicians have to say about it?