The first six months o 2002 brought mixed fortunes for the major players in the timber industry around the world.
In the US Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Louisiana-Pacific Corporation and Weyerhaeuser Company have all seen drops in second quarter earnings.
Georgia-Pacific has dived from a second quarter income of US$134m in 2001 to US$104m and Louisiana-Pacific reports a second quarter net loss of US$13.2m on sales of US452.8m compared to a net loss of US$9.7m on sales of US$461.3m in 2001.
The story was much the same at Weyerhaeuser which reported second quarter net earnings of US$72m on net sales of US$4.9bn compared with earnings of US$171m on sales of US$3.8bn for the same period last year.
There was better news for Nexfor Inc and Stora Enso. Nexfor has announced that second quarter earnings improved to C$17m – a C$13m increase over the first quarter of 2002. In the second quarter of 2001, a profit of C$14m was reported.
Meanwhile, Stora Enso’s timber sales increased to e320.8m in the second quarter of 2002. Operating profits for the division were e14.1m, up from e11.2m in the preceding quarter. Overall sales were e3.23bn and operating profits e241.8m.
Plum Creek Timber Company Inc has reported second quarter earnings of US$53m on revenues of US$271m bringing its results for the first six months of 2002 to US$109m on revenues of US$546m. The company says it cannot compare its results with 2001 because of its merger with The Timber Company last October.
