VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Canfor Corp. announced the continuation of reduced operating schedules at its Western Canadian sawmills due to the ongoing global supply chain challenges.
The company said it has been operating at approximately 80 percent of production capacity since late March 2022. In addition to maintaining reduced operating schedules, Canfor said it will implement two weeks of rotating downtime across its primary sawmills in July and August to help align production capacity with the sustainable timber supply and transportation availability. To mitigate the impact on employees, Canfor added that the rotating downtime will be used to complete maintenance projects and other activities at each mill site.
Canfor said it has produced 100 million board feet less since announcing the reduced operating schedules on March 30. The company said the next round of measures is expected to result in an incremental impact of approximately 275 million board feet by the end of August.
"The global supply challenges are continuing to significantly limit our ability to transport products to our customers and our inventory levels remain very high,” said Don Kayne, president and CEO. “We are working to bring our inventory levels back into balance by reducing our production, while also working to meet the needs of our customers."
Canfor said it anticipates that its mills will resume normal operating schedules following their respective summer downtime. The company also said it will continue to assess and make adjustments to operating schedules as supply chain conditions evolve.
Canfor recently reported an operating income of $741.9 million for the first quarter of 2022 compared to an operating loss of $66.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.
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