More mill closers

[customsawyer]

INDUSTRY NEWS. CANFOR ANNOUNCES CLOSURE OF DARLINGTON AND ESTILL SAWMILLS.  Canfor Corporation announced today [June 26, 2025] its decision to permanently close the Estill and Darlington sawmills in South Carolina, effective August 2025. These closures follow an extended period of persistently weak market conditions and sustained financial losses, which have made continued operations at these facilities no longer viable. "We understand the significant impact this difficult decision will have on our employees," said Lee Goodloe, President, Canfor Southern Pine. "This outcome is in no way a reflection of the dedication and hard work of our teams. We are committed to supporting our employees through this transition, including providing severance payments and exploring opportunities for redeployment within our other operations where possible." Approximately 290 employees will be affected by the closures, which will also reduce Canfor's U.S. lumber production capacity by 350 million board feet annually.

[Stephen1]

A sign of the economy. I noticed the railways starting to lay off also. 
 I worked on the railway for 38 years.  The railways are the 1st into a recession and 1st out. 

[customsawyer]

I find it interesting that a lot of 2x material is still close to pre covid prices around here. Makes it tough when everything else has gone up so much. 

[Larry]

On the other hand.......

Top U.S. Logger Weyerhaeuser Expands with $500M Arkansas Mill  

The best info source is a story in the WSJ, but its behind a paywall.

America's Top Logger Bets It Can Make Money Off Small, Crooked Trees

From what I understand the new plant will be taking small and crooked trees that not even the pulp mills want. They turn this junk into LSL framing lumber. 

TimberStrand® LSL Framing Lumber

I wonder how much impact this will have on traditional sawmills kicking out framing lumber. In today's world innovation and science are requirements for keeping ahead of the other guys.

[TreefarmerNN]

On the other hand.......

Top U.S. Logger Weyerhaeuser Expands with $500M Arkansas Mill 

The best info source is a story in the WSJ, but its behind a paywall.

America's Top Logger Bets It Can Make Money Off Small, Crooked Trees

From what I understand the new plant will be taking small and crooked trees that not even the pulp mills want. They turn this junk into LSL framing lumber.

TimberStrand® LSL Framing Lumber

I wonder how much impact this will have on traditional sawmills kicking out framing lumber. In today's world innovation and science are requirements for keeping ahead of the other guys.

I'm guessing that Weyerhaeuser took a hard look at their timberlands inventory and realized they could make more money turning those smaller trees into LVL/LSL product than selling it for pulp.  They have a lot of timberland in that area and do a great job of tracking the trees in the forest.  It's also a hedge against having pulp mills shut down and losing the ability to thin trees at the 15-18 year time.  Our area is dependent on one pulp mill and a lot of forest isn't getting thinned because the mill only needs so many logs/month and has a plentiful supply.  So pulp prices barely pay the logger much less leaving any return for the landowner.  I think Weyerhaeuser saw a potential problem for their timberlands and moved to remediate the issue while developing a new product line.  I hope it works for them and they duplicate it elsewhere.