Canfor Pulp Products Inc. announced today that it will indefinitely curtail one production line at its Northwood facility in Prince George due to the decline in the availability of economic fibre in the northern BC region.
The curtailment will result in the reduction of approximately 300,000 tonnes of market kraft pulp annually.
“While the region has a substantive supply of sustainably grown timber, harvest levels are well below the Allowable Annual Cut partly due to natural disturbances, but increasingly because of the impact of a range of policy choices and regulatory complexity,” said Kevin Edgson, President and CEO, Canfor Pulp. “The persistent shortage of economic fibre, particularly in the Prince George region, has led to the closure or curtailment of a number of sawmills, which in turn has dramatically reduced the volume of chips available to meet the needs of our pulp operations. Despite exhaustive efforts, including expanding well beyond our traditional operating region, there is simply not enough residual fibre to supply the current production capacity of all our operations.”
Canfor Pulp currently operates two pulp production lines at its Northwood facility and one production line at its nearby Intercon facility.
The Company will continue to operate both lines at Northwood over the next few weeks, followed by an orderly wind-down process of one line at the beginning of the third quarter. This reduction in capacity will impact approximately 220 jobs across Canfor Pulp.
Edgson continued, “We are frustrated and disheartened to have to make this decision and know it has a significant impact on our employees, their families, local businesses and the community. We have set up a transition team and will work with our union to support our employees as we plan an orderly winddown.”
With the reduction of one line at Northwood, Canfor Pulp will have total annual capacity of 480,000 tonnes of market pulp. Canfor Pulp’s Specialty Paper facility in Prince George will continue to operate with a total annual capacity of 140,000 tonnes of kraft paper.
