Södra Timber is extending its summer shutdown by two months after predicting no improvements in the construction markets until 2013.
The planned holiday downtime at Södra’s Ramkvilla and Torsås sawmills will be extended as an initial measure. Production will stop between June 4-August 27, extending the planned holiday shutdown by two months.
Production at the sawmill in Långasjö will be reduced from a three-shift pattern to a two-shift pattern over the same period. All sawmills will remain open for deliveries throughout the summer.
“We are monitoring market development closely,” said Södra Timber president Peter Nilsson.
“The sawmills have now seen a fairly long period of no profitability, and we have to create a balance between production and demand in order to place ourselves back in a reasonable situation.
“We hope that these measures will improve the situation. But at the same time, we are not ruling out further action in the future.”
Södra Timber has recorded a slow increase in sawn timber prices during the second quarter but said construction markets remained weak almost everywhere, not least in the Netherlands and Denmark.
The situation at Södra Timber’s sawmills will be re-evaluated later in May.
