Oregon mills banking on China business
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LANE COUNTY, OR -- The local lumber and plywood business is receiving a big boost in new orders from China.

The Register-Guard reported that Seneca Sawmill (photo) in Eugene and Swanson Plywood of Glendale are among major wood products employers that are taking orders to export product to China.

Seneca Sawmill, which reportedly employs 265 people, will be able to reinstate workers' hours that were cut as a response to the recession-spurred slowdown.

"I don’t think we’ll get back to full production in 2011, but we’ll continue to add hours for the year," Rick Re, general manager of Seneca Sawmill, told the paper. "Our guys are going to make more money in 2011 than they did in 2010.”

Swanson Plywood employs approximately 520 workers at its mills in Glendale, Roseburg, Noti and Springfield. The company hopes to begin bringing back laid off workers a handful at a time, with the ultimate goal of rehiring 150 of them by early July, the paper said.

Posted by Rich Christianson
 

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