Category Archives: Business & Politics

Business & Politics

U.S. lumber industry takes aim at Canada’s forestry research centre, alleging unfair subsidies

By Brent Jang
The Globe and Mail
March 11, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

A Canadian forestry research centre (FPInnovations) that has led efforts to expand the use of mass timber in BC and Quebec is being accused by the U.S. lumber industry of receiving unfair federal and provincial subsidies. The move is part of a new offensive in the long-running trade dispute over Canadian softwood sold south of the border. …In a complaint lodged with the U.S. Department of Commerce this past summer, a U.S. lumber COALITION, alleged that FPInnovations is helping Canadian producers gain an unfair advantage over their American competitors. …The complaint, citing FPInnovations’ financial reporting, says the Canadian government provided more than $21-million in funding to the research centre. …A joint filing by the Canadian, Alberta and Saskatchewan governments counters that COALITION’s arguments are without merit. …Last month, the Department of Commerce opted to defer a decision on whether to launch an investigation until its next administrative review, later this year. [to access the full story a Globe Mail subscription is required]

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Canfor sees positive trends in lumber, eyes global growth

By Ahmed Abdulazez Abdulkadir
Investing.com
March 7, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

During a recent earnings call, Canfor provided insights into its operational and financial strategies amidst varying market conditions. The company highlighted improvements in the lumber market, particularly in European, MENA, and Asian regions, attributing it to low inventories and the need for replenishment. Despite this, increased shipments to the US are not expected until the second quarter due to planning and supply chain logistics. Canfor’s capital expenditure plans remain on track, with the Houston rebuild project progressing without changes to strategic projects. The company also emphasized its strength in the Southern platform and the cost position of its Swedish assets. …Canfor anticipates global growth and continues to assess mergers and acquisitions in Europe and the US. …In conclusion, Canfor Corporation remains resilient in the face of market fluctuations, with a clear focus on strategic growth and operational efficiency. 

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United Steelworkers union reaches new deal with CN Rail

United Steelworkers
March 1, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

MONTREAL – The United Steelworkers union (USW) Local 2004 has reached a tentative agreement for a new contract with CN Rail, covering 3,000 workers across the country. The new three-year deal comes after months of negotiations, kicking off in October 2023, with the current collective agreement having expired on Dec. 31, 2023. USW Local 2004 represents 3,000 CN employees who inspect, maintain and repair the railway’s track, bridges and infrastructure across Canada. …The new agreement is being unanimously endorsed by the union’s nine-member bargaining committee. Ratification meetings will take place during March via regional in-person and online townhall meetings. Results of the ratification vote are expected by the end of March or early April.

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US trade czar: Don’t get ‘too comfortable’ North American trade pact will stay as is

By Alexander Panetta
CBC News
March 6, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Katherine Tai

Don’t get too comfortable with the North American trade pact: that’s the warning from President Joe Biden’s top trade official as countries prepare to review the deal. Katherine Tai made the comments as the agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, known in the U.S. as USMCA, passed the halfway point toward the six-year mark where countries will start discussing its renewal. The agreement includes… a sunset clause: Once the renewal process starts, countries have a decade to agree to new terms – or else the pact disappears. …The U.S. ambassador to Canada has already said that officials in his country have begun discussing their priorities for renewal talks starting in 2026. …But Tai urged the countries not to take things for granted. …She referred to a dispute topic with Canada: dairy. …Canada has its own complaints about implementation of the new agreement.

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From sawmills to sports teams: The rise of Amar Doman’s business empire

By Nelson Bennett
Business in Vancouver
March 15, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Amar Doman

Given Herb Doman’s place in B.C.’s business pantheon as a self-made lumber baron, one can be forgiven for thinking Doman Building Materials is a surviving part of the same Doman family empire. Amar Doman, 53, founder and CEO of Doman Building Materials and owner of the BC Lions, is indeed part of the famed Doman family. He is the nephew of Herb and Gordon Doman, and son of Ted Doman. …But while Doman Industries ultimately collapsed, the business empire being built by a member of the family’s second generation continues to thrive and grow. …Doman Building Materials is made up of seven divisions in Canada and the U.S. that own and operate 29 distribution centres, 32 pressure treatment facilities, five specialty sawmills, four specialty lumber planing mills, three truss plants and two post and pole plants, along with 117,000 acres of private timberlands, licences and tenures, and log harvesting and trucking operations in B.C.’s Interior.

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University of Northern British Columbia receives more than $4.5 million in federal research funding

University of Northern British Columbia
March 15, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Lisa Wood

Thomas Tannert

University of Northern British Columbia researchers received more than $4.5 million in funding from the federal government to support more than a dozen research projects and scholarships. …Ecosystem Science and Management Associate Professor Dr. Lisa Wood received more than $1.5 million in funding and partner in-kind contributions over five years from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance program to examine the effects of glyphosate-based herbicide residues on ecosystem health. …School of Engineering Professor Dr. Thomas Tannert received two grants from the NSERC Alliance program, one worth $40,000 to work with Timber Engineering and one worth $20,000 to continue his research as a Canada Research Chair in Tall Wood and Hybrid Structures Engineering. The first will investigate the viability of hybrid high-performance joints for cross-laminated timber floor panels… The second will help evaluate the potential of using mass-timber products for larger and non-residential structures with longer floor spans…

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Western Forest Products Chemainus sawmill is closing for two weeks

By Kendall Hanson
Chek News
March 14, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

CHEMAINUS, BC — Western Forest Products has notified sawmill workers at its Chemainus site of a looming shutdown. The closure begins next week and the company says it’s related to market conditions and log availablity for that mill. “Surprised, pretty short notice was an issue,” said Chris Cinkant with United Steelworkers 1-1937. The union represents the 100 impacted workers, roughly two-thirds of Western Forest Products employees in Chemainus. …The announcement comes just weeks after Western Forest Products announced the completion of its kiln upgrade at its Saltair Division. Steven Hofer, Western Forest Products CEO touted plans to invest $35 million for continuous dry kilns for its Nanaimo and Chemainus divisions as well. …Brian Menzies, with the Independent Woodprocessors Association of BC says the curtailment will also impact the value added companies that rely on that supply and their employees”.

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B.C. NDP’s ‘minor’ change to Labour Code actually a sneaky significant move

By Vaughn Palmer
Vancouver Sun
March 14, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Harry Bains

VICTORIA — Earlier this year, the New Democrats launched an independent review of the Labour Code, the provincial law governing strikes, lockouts, bargaining, organizing and the relationship between unions and employers. …However, tucked inside the provisions of this Act was a significant change involving strikes and picketing… The change was crafted to reverse a decision by the independent labour relations board, which had ruled provincially regulated workers could not legally respect a picket line put up by their federal counterparts. …But the proposed change drew a swift and angry protest from the major employer organizations — the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Council of B.C. and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. …The New Democrats are rewriting the Labour Code … in the midst of a supposedly independent review of the Code itself. There are many words to characterize such conduct. But fair, balanced and trustworthy aren’t among them.

 

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Kalesnikoff COO Speaks to New $34-million Facility

By Alex Robinson
iHeart Radio
March 14, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Chris Kalesnikoff

A new Kalesnikoff facility is on the way for lands along the Nelson-Castlegar corridor. Development of the 34-million dollar project is set to stretch from spring through the end of 2024 with a focus on new and expanded products and services to benefit the construction industry. Chief Operating Officer Chris Kalesnikoff says when their Mass Timber Facility opened in 2019 they identified an opportunity to offer new technology and wood products: “We are breaking ground this spring on our third facility and this facility is going to be utilizing our current mass timber products and taking them further down stream, with more assembly and more factory addition work, to provide more complete finished solutions to the construction site. So we’ll be taking our mass timber products, doing additional pre-fabrication….” Kalesnikoff says now they can offer complete wall and floor assemblies, complete modular construction with jobsite delivery, and more.

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Eby Pledges Unions Will Help Shape BC’s Forestry Future

By Andrew MacLeod
The Tyee
March 14, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Eby

The B.C. government is committed to including forestry workers in discussions about the industry’s future, Premier David Eby told a union-organized meeting Tuesday, while saying it “stings a bit” to hear they’ve felt sidelined. “Forestry has a bright future in British Columbia,” Eby said. “We are in a challenging time right now, but we are going to get there together…” The premier was speaking at a summit in Victoria organized by three unions: Unifor, United Steelworkers District 3 and the Public and Private Workers of Canada. …The unions understand the industry has to change, McGarrigle said, citing reconciliation with First Nations and the need to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. …The unions accept all the goals the government is balancing, McGarrigle said. “But our key point is why are workers who built the industry and their unions sort of an afterthought. They should be central to any strategy.”

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Eby takes forestry heat in stride, says community-level planning is solution

By Rob Shaw
Northern Beat
March 13, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Brian O’Rourke

Brian O’Rourke, president of the United Steelworkers Local 1-2017, didn’t hold back when he was given a microphone and a chance to educate the premier of British Columbia on the harsh realities of the provincial forest industry. A forty-year veteran of the sector, around Prince George, he’s watched numerous mills shut down and hundreds of colleagues lose their jobs.  Crowded into a tiny hotel meeting room in Victoria, at a union event with the premier this week, O’Rourke gave David Eby a history lesson on forest companies that “swap log tenures like two kids in school swapping hockey cards” and hoard logs — a public resource — even when they curtail mills and lay off employees. “The other thing that really burns my ass,” he told the premier, “is when these corporations get shut down they get to keep the logs and sell them. That needs to stop.” …The premier, though, took the criticism in stride.

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Unions report on NDP failings in response to forestry crisis

By Vaughn Palmer
The Vancouver Sun
March 13, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Andrew Mercier

The NDP government response to the continuing crisis in the B.C. forest sector has been “inadequate,” “scatter gun” and “delivered with little attention to the need for an overall strategy to sustain the industry.” So said a trio of forest sector unions in a report that Premier David Eby himself acknowledged as a wake-up call for the NDP in an election year. …The unions blamed myriad job losses and mill closures on… the policies of the previous B.C. Liberal government. But they did not spare the NDP failure to develop a strategy for a sustainable industry for the future. …The report is especially critical of the workforce and community adjustment programs brought in by the NDP since they assumed office in 2017. …The premier promised the group that the New Democrats will “address the issues you’ve identified.” But given the failings documented in the report, Eby’s commitment may not last much longer than this election year.

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Hampton Lumber updates Burns Lake Council on sawmill plans

By Saddman Zaman
Burns Lake Lakes District News
March 13, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

BURNS LAKE, BC — On March 5, representatives from Hampton Lumber met with the Burns Lake council to provide an update about the sawmill industry in town. Randy Schillinger, Hampton Lumber CEO, said the company wants to explore new ideas and pathways that would benefit the lumber industry’s future. He noted that lumber companies in B.C. were losing money and having a tough time, which was why sawmills were shutting down. “We need to see a pathway for success,” he said. He said that there was a market for mass timber products that had yet to be developed. His company was seeking assurance from the community that it would have a supportive future based on this product. Schillinger said his company recently invested with RedBuilt to ensure this product has a market.

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Decline of B.C.’s forestry ‘neither inevitable nor acceptable’: union report

By Wolf Depner
Victoria News
March 12, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

A new report warns of a “deepening” and “never-ending” crisis in B.C.’s forestry sector and criticizes government’s inadequate response to it. Titled ‘A Better Future for B.C. Forestry’, the report was co-prepared by Unifor, United Steelworkers, Public and Private Workers of Canada. It finds the sector has “experienced a perfect storm of repeated and intersecting crises” that have “devastated.” …Forestry’s contribution to the provincial economy has declined from more than $8 billion to $5.2 billion. …Recommendations include the creation of a permanent, province-wide forestry council focused on the preservation of high-quality jobs in forestry-related industries; development of a province-wide plan for a sustainable fibre supply; and maximization of value-added production out of the available supply. The report also includes a critical assessment of existing government responses, which “have consisted largely of a slate of relatively small and ad-hoc assistance programs, delivered with little attention to the need for an overall strategy to sustain the industry.”

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Forestry Workers’ Summit unites workers in effort to strengthen sector

Unifor
March 12, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

VICTORIA, BC – Rank-and-file forestry workers, union leaders, policymakers, and researchers gathered to hash out solutions to the crisis facing British Columbia’s forestry industry during a policy summit on March 12 in Victoria. The summit, jointly hosted by Unifor, the United Steelworkers union, and the Public and Private Workers of Canada, was an unprecedented gathering of workers who have experienced firsthand the many mill closures and related job losses in an industry that was once world-renowned. “…the crisis in the industry is driven by a lack of a plan to sustainably harvest fibre and a raw logs export policy that exports jobs,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor Western Regional Director. Scott Lunny, USW Director for Western Canada said, “B.C.’s forestry unions are stepping up to provide leadership. There was unanimity in the room today and I know there can be a bright future for B.C. forestry if good, unionized jobs are a top priority.”

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Lack of fibre has forest industry and communities in ‘crisis,’ unions say

By Darron Kloster
Victoria Times Colonist
March 13, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

…In what was called an “unprecedented summit,” the forest industry’s three major unions in B.C. — Unifor, United Steelworkers and Public and Private Workers of Canada — released a report outlining mill closures, continuing job losses, fibre supply shortages and issues related to old growth and logging tenures that have been eroding the province’s harvesting, pulp and paper, and wood manufacturing sectors. The unions say they want to be part of key reforms for a modern, value-added and sustainable provincial forest industry. The union report documents a stark decline in B.C.’s forest industry, where the province’s share of wood products has gone from half of all Canadian production to a third, as mills shutter permanently or are curtailed for long periods. More than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs have been lost over the past decade alone, including 3,000 across the industry in the past year. …The unions are proposing four key measures to stop the tailspin…

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B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy Announces Sarah Goodman as CEO

By BC Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy
Cision Newswire
March 11, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Sarah Goodman

VANCOUVER, BC – The B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Sarah Goodman will take the helm as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective March 11, 2024. Sarah’s extensive background in advancing Canada’s climate change policies, coupled with over a decade of executive experience in the resource sector, uniquely positions her to lead CICE’s mission and play a pivotal role in fast-tracking the commercialization of British Columbia’s clean energy and climate solutions. Sarah is recognized as one of Canada’s top climate policy experts. She joins CICE from the Boston Consulting Group, where she was a Partner working with leading companies and governments around the world to advance climate solutions and green industrial policy. Sarah previously served as the Prime Minister’s Senior Advisor on Climate Action and Sustainable Economy, shaping Canada’s national climate change plans and mobilizing over $100 billion in federal investments to accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy.

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Legislation will enable community, economic development in Haida Gwaii

By Ministry of Forests
Government of British Columbia
March 7, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Province will enable the transfer of approximately $60 million from a legacy trust to the Gwaii Trust Society for the benefit of the broader Haida Gwaii community. “As a rural and remote community, the people of Haida Gwaii should be able to access and use this fund in a forward-looking way that addresses their unique needs,” said Bruce Ralston, B.C.’s Minister of Forests. “The transfer is long overdue, and I’m glad that this bill will finally help that become a reality. The Gwaii Trust Society funds and supports projects that contribute to the well-being of the Haida Gwaii community, and builds a more diverse, sustainable economy for the long term.” …This fund will support broader projects beyond forestry and tourism, creating new local jobs for nearly 5,000 people. …If passed by the legislature, Bill 8 – the Athlii Gwaii legacy trust (winding up) act will enable the transfer of the trust property to the Gwaii Trust Society. 

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COFI Early Bird ends at midnight tonight and Spotlight Session Announced

Council of Forest Industries
March 8, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

With an evolving landscape for the workforce in Canada, the forest industry will need to attract and retain new workers with diverse skills, backgrounds, and experiences. Jason Krips, President and CEO of the Alberta Forest Products Association and Louise Bender, Vice President, People & Administration at Mosaic Forest Management will be hosting a spotlight session on some innovative approaches to build meaningful inclusion of employees and position the forestry sector as an industry of choice for everyone. Register by Midnight tonight and Save $100

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Congratulations to Kelly Kitsch on her Appointment to Chair of the Forest Professionals British Columbia

City of Mission
March 6, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Kelly Kitsch

The City of Mission would like to congratulate Kelly Kitsch on her recent appointment to Chair of the Forest Professionals British Columbia. Kelly has served as a dedicated Registered Forest Technologist at the City of Mission for over 25 years and, among her many duties within the department, she leads the silviculture program that sees the planting of over 80,000 trees in the Mission Municipal Forest every year. She talked about the trees of the Municipal Forest in a recent video series. In the following interview, she shared her insights on forestry, climate change, sustainability, and the future of the industry. “Now, more than ever, our forests require oversight and management to make them resilient to our changing climate, to protect our communities from wildfire, as well as to ensure they meet the needs of society in a multitude of ways,” Kitsch said in the interview.

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Kalesnikoff Announces Third New $34 million Mass Timber Facility in West Kootenays, British Columbia

Kalesnikoff Mass Timber
March 7, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Castlegar, BC — Kalesnikoff Mass Timber is pleased to announce the ongoing growth of its product offerings, services and team through a new, third facility and product lines; continuing to secure Kalesnikoff’s leadership and innovation in meeting evolving and expanding construction industry needs. This new initiative will further enhance the value-add benefits of the company’s existing supply of exceptional local timber, harvesting operations, and manufacturing facilities and services. It will create up to 90 new jobs on completion, and ongoing benefits for the local economy and Kalesnikoff’s existing highly skilled and dedicated employee team.

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Kruger, Province Ink Deal To Prop Up Paper Mill, Forestry Sector

VOCM News Now
March 15, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

NEWFOUNDLAND and LABRADOR — The provincial government has agreed to buy hydro power “when needed” from Corner Brook Pulp and Paper to help the struggling mill through more tough times. In exchange, Montreal-based parent company Kruger “will work to identify new revenue sources from wood-based bioproducts” to diversify the operation and keep it afloat amid a dying global newsprint market. In addition, the company has agreed to sell saw logs to Newfoundland’s three large sawmills, in line with its operating plans, which government says is “essential for the stability of the forest sector.” The six-month agreement was announced in separate news releases from the company and government on Friday afternoon, with the province insisting any power purchased from Corner Brook Pulp and Paper, generated by its Deer Lake facility, won’t affect ratepayers. …Corner Brook Pulp and Paper employs more than 300 workers, with annual sales in the range of $130 million.

Gov’t of Newfoundland: Province Announces Agreement with Corner Brook Pulp & Paper

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Nova Scotia grants Northern Pulp mill one-year extension for environmental assessment

The Canadian Press in CTV News Atlantic
March 15, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

An idled Nova Scotia pulp mill has been given another year to complete an environmental assessment for its project to build a new effluent treatment facility. The provincial Environment Department says it granted Northern Pulp the extension last week after the company had requested one. In March 2022 Environment Minister Tim Halman released the terms of reference for the Abercrombie, N.S., mill’s assessment report. The two-year deadline for that report was originally set for this week.The mill closed operations in January 2020 after the former Liberal government of Premier Stephen McNeil rejected plans for a new effluent treatment facility. That government passed legislation in 2015 requiring effluent to stop flowing into a tidal estuary near the Pictou Landing First Nation by 2020. [END]

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Who is looking after Fort Frances?

Letter by Fred Laverdure
The Fort Frances Times
March 13, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

On March 28, 2022, Greg Rickford, Minister of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry, announced the Ontario government’s first Forest Biomass Action Plan. According to the announcement, the plan was a way to promote economic opportunities, drive economic growth and help secure, for future generations, a strong forestry sector in the north. At the time of the announcement, Fort Frances had a biomass facility, originally funded with lots of your hard earned tax dollars. Perfect for the Town to take advantage of this program. From my perspective, Council took no initiative to take advantage of this program. By late 2022 the biomass was demolished and it was recently revealed that Thunder Bay received funding for a new biomass facility. I feel this was just another failure by this and the last council to do anything to make sure Fort Frances continues to benefit from the forest around it.

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Laid-off Terrace Bay mill workers appeal for support

By Gary Ring
Superior North News
March 6, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

QUEEN’S PARK — A delegation representing laid-off workers at the Terrace Bay pulp mill travelled to Queen’s Park on Tuesday “looking for some hope” that the mill will be restarted in the near future. India-based Aditya Birla Group announced the indefinite shutdown of the mill in early January, and laid off close to 400 people. The Steelworkers union, representing about 270 workers, says it’s had no luck getting any information from the company about its plans. Michelle Richardson, the recording secretary for local 665, made an emotional appeal at a news conference held jointly with the NDP. “We are here to ask for the government’s support to fight for us, to fight for our community and the people who work in the pulp mill. We can’t afford to wait. The last time we were down – and this is the fourth time we’ve been through this – we were out of work for 18 months.”

Video coverage in CBC: Sparring over shuttered Terrace Bay pulp mill leads to heated exchange

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Cross-Laminated Timber Industry to Gain New Manufacturing Facility in Oregon’s Mid-Willamette Valley

By Timberlab Inc.
LTLA Los Angeles
March 15, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

PORTLAND, Oregon — Timberlab, a subsidiary of Swinerton Inc. and national provider of mass timber systems, unveils its plans to construct and operate a state-of-the-art cross-laminated timber (CLT) manufacturing facility in Oregon’s mid-Willamette region. This strategic initiative represents a significant milestone in the firm’s mission to accelerate the mainstream adoption of mass timber construction across the United States, providing a low-carbon and renewable material for the construction industry. “Timberlab’s objective has been to remove pinch points in the mass timber industry,” states President Chris Evans. “Over the last four years, we have added two CNC facilities in Portland and Greenville focused on expanding the supply chain for mass timber. …Plans for the 250,000-square-foot CLT manufacturing facility… with an annual output of 100,000 cubic meters of finished CLT products, the facility will integrate automated processes and is expected to create 100 manufacturing jobs at full capacity.

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Community leaders: Pyramid mill closure in Seeley Lake ‘devastating,’ ‘heartbreaking’

By Keila Szpaller
News From The States
March 15, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

MONTANA — Community leaders said Friday news that Pyramid Mountain Lumber plans to close the Seeley Lake mill, the area’s largest employer, will change the fabric of the town in the Seeley-Swan. …“Among other problems, labor shortages, lack of housing, unprecedented rising costs, plummeting lumber prices, and the cost of living in western Montana have crippled Pyramid’s ability to operate,” the company said. Claire Muller, head of the Seeley Lake Community Foundation, said the news is heart-wrenching for the community, and she believes it must have been heartbreaking for the owners. …Friday, an economic development leader in Missoula County said the closure could have impacts across the region, and “interested parties” are talking about whether there’s a way to keep the facility open. Grant Kier, head of the Missoula Economic Partnership, said the announcement is devastating for people who have built lives and livelihoods around the mill.

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Pyramid Mountain Lumber announces closure

KPAX Missoula & Western Montana
March 14, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

SEELEY LAKE — After providing jobs to the Seeley Lake community for 75 years, Pyramid Mountain Lumber, Inc. will shut down its operation this Spring. In a press release, Pyramid Mountain Lumber officials site labor shortages, lack of housing, unprecedented rising costs, plummeting lumber prices, and the cost of living in Western Montana to cripple Pyramid’s ability to operate. According to the press release, Pyramid’s management group and Board of Directors worked on many of these issues for years to find a way to address these issues. They say despite their best efforts, they see no way out of this current situation. Pyramid will cut off logs on March 31, 2024, run the log inventory through the sawmill, and surface, and sell all lumber before auctioning the mill equipment. According to their website, Pyramid Mountain Lumber has been family-owned and operated since 1949 and it is the oldest surviving family-owned and operated lumber mill in Montana.

Additional coverage in the Missoulian, by Griffen Smith: Pyramid Mountain Lumber announces closure

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Wood pellet manufacturer bankruptcy could affect Alabama, Mississippi mills

By Steve Wilson
The Center Square
March 15, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

The world’s largest industrial wood pellet manufacturer is declaring bankruptcy and that could affect planned mills in both Alabama and Mississippi. Enviva, in a release, said it hopes to reduce debt by $1 billion through Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Two of its plants under construction will be affected. The new Alabama plant in Epes near the Mississippi border in Sumter County will continue construction and begin production in 2025. The mill was scheduled to open this year. It is recipient of $112 million in taxpayer-funded subsidies in the form of a manufacturing equipment tax credit. In southern Mississippi, the mill proposed for Bond in Stone County will be paused. The Bond mill, also scheduled to open this year, will receive $4 million in state grants and state and local tax breaks. …”We look forward to emerging from this process as a stronger company with a solid financial foundation,” said Glenn Nunziata, interim chief executive officer and chief financial officer.

Related Coverage:

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Besse Forest Products Group sold to Hoffmann Family

By Ilsa Minor
Michigan Daily Press
March 14, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

ESCANABA — After nearly 60 years of local ownership, Besse Forest Products Group has been sold to the Hoffmann Family of Companies. Founded by John Besse in 1966 with the launch of Northern Michigan Veneers, Inc. in Gladstone, Besse Forest Products Group expanded significantly over decades. It now operates a network of sawmills, wood drying facilities and veneer and plywood factories across northern Michigan and Wisconsin. According to HFOC, the strategic move adds to the company’s portfolio, complementing their existing Ferche Millwork operations. Combined, the two operations gives HFOC over 2 million square feet of production facilities and a workforce of more than 1,400 people in wood products manufacturing. …Greg Besse will continue in his role as CEO of the Besse Forest Products Group, overseeing the entire operation. …Like Besse Forest Products Group, which has been family-owned since its inception, HFOC is family-owned. 

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The world’s largest global industrial supplier of wood pellets just filed for bankruptcy with debts over $2.6 billion

By James Pollard
Fortune Magazine
March 13, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

The largest global industrial wood pellet supplier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, announcing its intention to cut about $1 billion of debt by restructuring agreements with creditors, including those who have invested heavily in new facilities. Maryland-based Enviva said in the filing that its debts exceed $2.6 billion. The company owes $780 million to a Delaware bank, $348 million to a German energy company, as well as $353 million in bonds from local development authorities in Mississippi and Alabama. …Over the past 20 years, Enviva built 10 wood pellet production plants across the U.S. South. …New payback plans will be hammered out. …Danna Smith, the executive director of the Dogwood Alliance, celebrated the bankruptcy filing as a sign that what she called Enviva’s “greenwashing tactics and lack of transparency” have caught up to the company. 

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Wood-Pellet Maker Enviva Files for Bankruptcy

By Alexander Gladstone
The Wall Street Journal
March 13, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

Enviva, the largest U.S. wood-pellet exporter, filed for bankruptcy Tuesday after a bad bet on future prices of the commodity triggered nine-figure losses. The company filed a chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Eastern Virginia. Enviva… began building its manufacturing plants and export network in 2010 with financing from private-equity firm Riverstone. The company said last year that it had also been buying additional pellets and aiming to resell them for a profit, but that strategy backfired when pellet prices fell. Enviva was on the hook to pay $296.3 million for 800,000 metric tons of wood pellets that would only be worth $156.9 million on the open market. …Enviva enters bankruptcy with agreements with certain creditor groups to reduce debt by approximately $1 billion. One creditor group has provided a commitment to Enviva for $500 million in debtor-in-possession financing to fund the chapter 11 process. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]

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Oriented strand board manufacturing coming to former Androscoggin Mill

By Ethan Andrews
The Bangor Daily News
March 8, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

Godfrey Forest Products has started the process of building an oriented strand board manufacturing facility at the Androscoggin Mill property in Jay. Gov. Janet Mills announced the news at the former paper mill on Friday, appearing with Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Heather Johnson, Jay Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere, and developer John Godfrey. Oriented strand board, known as OSB, is a common type of composite plywood made from wood chips. John Godfrey, of Godfrey Forest Products, is a Bangor native, who has started other successful OSB manufacturing facilities in North America, including the LP Building Solutions’ LP Houlton plant in New Limerick, according to a press release from the governor’s office. Construction is expected to take 18 to 24 months, and the finished facility is expected to create 125 jobs, in addition to construction jobs. Mills said other developers are exploring potential projects on the mill site.

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Logging, one of South Carolina’s top industries, facing catastrophic collapse. Lawmakers want to help

By Nick Reynolds
The Post and Courier
March 9, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

COLUMBIA — South Carolina loggers are sounding the alarm over a burgeoning crisis facing the state’s timber industry, saying recent market disruptions are leading the more than $23 billion industry to the brink of what some contend is a catastrophic collapse. In a March 6 hearing before the state Senate’s Fish, Game and Forestry Committee, several leaders in the state’s timber industry warned the closures of several mills in North and South Carolina have left them with no place to process their raw materials at a time they are growing more trees than ever, leaving them with cratering prices for their goods and threatening them with closure. Last year, a paper mill in Canton, North Carolina closed its doors. …Months later, WestRock announced it would be closing down its mill in North Charleston. …The closures have since created a bottleneck for South Carolina’s foresters who plant 1.38 trees for every tree they remove from the ground.

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Irving Forest Products acquires Mill Services’ operation in Cobleskill, New York

JD Irving
March 6, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States, US East

Irving Forest Products, which operates sawmills in Ashland and Dixfield, Maine, announced the acquisition of Mill Services’ value-added operation in Cobleskill, New York. The mill boasts a 100,000 square foot facility on a 15-acre plot, with warehouses to protect products from the elements. The building has supported the community for 140 years through a variety of businesses, including the agricultural industry, refrigeration modernization, window, skylight and door furnishing, and supporting the war efforts of World War II. For the past 20 years, Mill Services has worked with low-grade pine lumber and offered quality products with the help of The Home Depot to homeowners and contractors throughout the Northeast. Cobleskill Value-Added currently employs 65 people, with an intention to grow the workforce in the coming years.

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South Australia beats Melbourne to new timber facility

By Bevin Liu and Tina Perinotto
The Fifth Estate Australia
March 14, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

There’s good reason to expect that South Australia’s timber buildings will become taller, more prevalent, and more complex as engineered wood specialists Timberlink open the doors to its new facilities, according to state premier Peter Malinauskas. …The company says it’s Australia’s only facility that can combine CLT and glue laminated timber (GLT) radiata pine mass timber and the first in Australia to integrate this with a structural timber manufacturing plant. …Malinauskas said, “The state government is committed to a sustainable economic path for our forest industries, and that is why we were pleased to contribute $2 million of funding.” The contribution might have helped South Australia beat a Melbourne contender for the location. According to David Oliver, the facility would take up to three years to reach full capacity. It currently employs 27 people with the potential to scale to 50 staff.

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European forest industry requests Japanese imports ban on Russian wood products

The Lesprom Network
March 14, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

The European Organization of the Sawmill Industry (EOS) and the European Confederation of Woodworking Industries (CEI-Bois) raised the question of a possible Japanese ban on the imports of Russian wood products, in particular lumber and glue laminated timber. According to figures shared by the Japanese Lumber Importers Association, Japan in 2023 was still importing 13% of its total lumber imports from Russia. This is regrettable. …We believe that a concerted effort to persuade Japan to stop importing Russian lumber would be a significant step in further impacting the Russian economy and its war machine. Our trade posture towards Russia, and sanctions in particular, should be coordinated and coherent among the coalition of countries that have decided to punish Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified, and barbaric invasion of Ukraine.

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Finnish forestry firms temporarily shut paper mills, suspend wage payments

YLE News
March 12, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

FINLAND — Finland’s three biggest forestry sector companies — UPM, Stora Enso and the Metsä Group — have all announced plans to temporarily close some of their pulp or paper mills due to a two-week walkout by workers that began on Monday. The political strikes reflect worker unions’ continued opposition to the government’s planned changes to labour market legislation. A statement released by UPM revealed that the company planned to shut at least four factories while the political strike is ongoing, and may close more. …Metsä Group also announced that it will close its pulp mill in Lappeenranta, but still plans to continue paying wages for the time being. Stora Enso said its packaging board mill in Varkaus will cease operations from Wednesday. …Petri Vanhala, chair of the Paperworkers’ Union, criticised the decision by employers to suspend wage payments due to the closures.

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Junnikkala commissions new 350,000m3 sawmill from Veisto in Finland

Junnikkala Oy in Forest Economic Advisors
March 6, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

OULU, Finland — Finnish sawmill company Junnikkala has commissioned its new €80m sawmill in Oulu. The company’s group staff were transported to the site on February 23 to view the mill, which will have an increased 350,000m3 sawn Timber. Approximately 90% of the production is destined for export markets. Veisto Oy supplied the technology for the new mill. Installation began in September 2023, and commissioning took place in December 2023. The line is expected to be fully operational in July 2024.

Related in Lesprom: Veisto installs world’s most modern saw line at Junnikkala mill

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State-owned logging company VicForests will cease to exist from June 30 this year

By Rochelle Kirkham and William Howard
ABC News, Australia
March 13, 2024
Category: Business & Politics

State-owned logging business VicForests, which has previously been found to have breached threatened species laws, will cease to exist from June 30 this year. Legal representatives for the entity made the revelation in the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne this morning, during a hearing for community group Wombat Forestcare’s case alleging VicForests breached requirements to survey for threatened species in western Victorian forests. It is the first time a decision on VicForests’ future has been revealed, after the Victorian government deregistered it as a state business corporation in September last year, removing the requirement for it to be commercially focused. …The development comes after native forest logging ended in Victoria on January 1. VicForests has been responsible for forest management — including the harvest, sale and regrowing of timber — on behalf of the Victorian government for the past 20 years. Environmental groups have long campaigned against the organisation.

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