Slocan Forest Products is the first timber company in British Columbia to announce extensive sawmill shutdowns since US softwood lumber duties took effect in May.
The company will take selective down-time at its Interior sawmills during June and July, resulting in a reduction of 50 million board feet of production, about 3% of its annual output.
Slocan says sales are slow and there has been a shift of inventories from buyers to suppliers, prompted by uncertainty caused by the softwood duty.
However, despite warnings of prices dropping from industry analysts, mills in British Columbia are still producing due to the use-it-or-lose-it provincial policy that requires mills to harvest timber even when the market is poor.
