Interfor to take temporary downtime in U.S. south, reduce production 20 per cent

VANCOUVER—Interfor Corp. has announced plans to put the brakes on its operations in the southern U.S. The company said it plans to reduce production across its operating platform in the region by 20 percent on a temporary basis in response to weak market demand.

The production slow down will be implemented by way of reduced hours at five of the company’s mills in the region and will remain in place until market conditions dictate otherwise.

“Prices for Southern Yellow Pine lumber have fallen by 27 percent since the beginning of the year as available supply has outstripped product demand in the region,” Duncan Davies, Interfor’s president & CEO, said.

“This action will help bring Interfor’s production and the needs of our customers back into balance. It will also help to keep inventory levels in check as we move into the fall,” he added.

The curtailments will affect three Interfor sawmills in Georgia as well as one in both South Carolina and Arkansas. During the downtime, Interfor said it will implement a series of maintenance and reliability improvements at the sawmills, noting the upgrades will offset the financial impact of the time off on a go-forward basis.

Interfor has nine sawmills across the US South, with total annual capacity of approximately 1.3 billion board feet.