Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LP) is the latest company on a growing list of lumber producers to announce curtailment of mill operations. The company will indefinitely curtail production of OSB at its Peace Valley facility in Fort St. John, British Columbia, beginning in the third quarter, according to a news release.
“Despite efforts by our Peace Valley team to reduce costs over the past several months, this decision is necessary to support the optimization of our OSB business in challenging market conditions,” Jason Ringblom, LP’s executive vice president for OSB, said in a public statement. “Declining housing starts, high wood costs and associated cost pressures require us to take this action that aligns with our performance driven strategy.”
Soft lumber market demand, declining lumber prices, and a slow U.S. housing market have led a number of lumber suppliers to temporarily halt operations. Last week, Western Forest Products announced temporary curtailments at three British Columbia mills to align production volume with sluggish customer demand. Canfor followed Western by announcing significant curtailment at all of its British Columbia sawmills, except its WynnWood operations, due to poor lumber markets. Last month, West Fraser is curtailing mill activities in June at five British Columbia sawmills and Interfor announced it would temporarily reduce production across its operating platform in British Columbia during June in part due to weak lumber prices.
Ringblom said the decision by LP ensures the company is “efficiently balancing” its commodity OSB production with customer demand and “improving the overall competitiveness” of its OSB business. LP’s Peace Valley OSB mill currently employs nearly 200 people and has an annual capacity of 800 million square feet (3/8-inch basis).
