Canfor Corporation will be closing its Isle Pierre sawmill, which is located near Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. The closure will take effect in the 3Q 2020 following an orderly wind down of operations.
Coronavirus
The new starting date for the PM2 paper machine at the Hamburger Container Board location in Spremberg, Germany, was set for the first week of September 2020. The decision was made following impacts from corona crisis as well as a recent fire on the building site.
The Carrier Group of Companies announced some updates to the previous shutdowns at its Tabor and Big River mills in Canada. The Tabor Planer in Prince George ran a single shift, with further operations to be announced on a week by week basis. The Carrier Forest Products sawmill in Big River, Saskatchewan operates on a ...
Western Forest Products Inc. reported negative adjusted EBITDA of $17.4 million in the 1Q 2020. Net loss of $21 million ($0.06 net loss per diluted share) was reported for the 1Q 2020, as compared to net income of $1.9 million ($nil per diluted share) for the 1Q 2019 and net loss of $29.2 million ($0.09 net loss per di...

Södra has now ended the furlough scheme introduced at the sawmill and port at Mönsterås, Sweden, in April in light of reduced demand related to the ongoing pandemic.
Conifex Timber Inc. announced that, in response to continued weakened global demand for forest products amid sustained uncertainty from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is extending its temporary production curtailment at its Mackenzie, British Columbia, Canada sawmill for four weeks to June 1, 2020.
Domtar plans to temporarily idle the operations of its Hawesville, Kentucky, mill beginning May 5th 2020. The company expects to restart the H1 paper machine in June 2020, while the H2 paper machine will remain idled until July 2020. The temporary shutdown will reduce Domtar’s uncoated freesheet paper production capaci...
Despite the uncertainty presented by COVID-19, Atlas Engineered Products maintains a focused sales strategy, and, as a result, all of its locations are seeing growth in their sales pipelines. Quoting activities have been steadily increasing at its Western Canadian operations.
Valmet completes co-determination negotiations, and as a result at this stage 72 employees in the Services business line in Finland and 105 employees in the EMEA area organization in Finland will be temporarily laid-off due to low workload.

Bergs Timber has announced that its Swedish sawmills, implemented short-term work will be terminated and production will return to normal pace from May 4. Estonian sawmill has produced in one shift during April and returns to two shifts from 4 May. Latvian sawmill Vika Wood has not been affected by production curtailme...
Due to coronavirus related production curtailment of the calcium line at Sappi’s Saiccor dissolving pulp mill the supply of lignin raw material to LignoTech South Africa has been interrupted.
Hayashi Plywood Industrial Co., Ltd. (Osaka, Japan) manufactures softwood plywood at Maizuru and Nanao plants. With dropping orders from precutting plants and large house builders, it plans to curtail the production by 20% since April.

In an effort to support the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Metsä Wood UK has produced over 43,000 linear metres of Finnjoist® I-beams to be used as part of the structure for a new NHS Nightingale hospital in Swansea Bay, Wales.
According to the standard procedure in a crisis situation, all planning at the Latvijas Finieris Group is currently carried out in the short term, responding to rapidly changing external conditions and making operative decisions for the coming weeks. Mārtiņš Lācis, Head of Marketing, Sales, Purchasing and Logistics inf...
The internationally operating Felix Schoeller Group from Osnabrück, Germany is responding to the weakening market demand caused by Corona with a package of measures. The company has adjusted its capacities for the production of specialty papers.
Lumber Liquidators reached agreement with its lenders to amend its Senior Secured Credit Facilities. While the Facilities maturity remains March 2024, the amendment is effective through August 30, 2020.

Despite the emergency situation caused by the coronavirus, everyday life at Koskisen production plants is still close to normal. Customers worldwide are still ordering sawn timber, plywood and chipboard, although the prolonged uncertainty in the markets is starting to make its mark on the development of the order book.
Current global conditions and recent events impacting Paper Excellence require us to extend the curtailment of paper operations at Powell River and Crofton in British Columbia, Canada.
Conifex Timber Inc. announced that, in response to continued weakened global demand for forest products impacted by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, it is extending its temporary production curtailment at its Mackenzie, British Columbia, Canada sawmill for two weeks to May 3, 2020.
Bid Group permanently closes its Canal Flats manufacturing facility in British Columbia, Canada. Market conditions continue to deteriorate as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic with many of its customers announcing both production curtailments and significantly reduced capital spending for this year and 2021.