West Fraser Forecasts Volatile Wood Products Demand for the Balance of 2020

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Vancouver, B.C-based West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. announced latest update on business operations.

The company press release says that it was forced to significantly reduce its lumber and plywood production since the middle of March and through the month of April this year, in response to the health and safety guidelines on account of Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. Meantime, the company has substantially resumed production, with only a few facilities yet to achieve full production schedule.

The operation at Cariboo Pulp, where downtime was extended to bring forward the planned maintenance, is likely to restart operations this week. Also, the rebuild project at Dudley, Georgia sawmill continues to remain on schedule.

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West Fraser Announces Major Production Adjustments

West Fraser expects the demand for its wood products to remain volatile during at least the rest of the year, in response to the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. The pulp operations remained strong on robust tissue demand. However, the printing and writing applications witnessed reduced demand. Furthermore, the company reported improved liquidity and significant reduction in inventories, especially in logs and lumber segments, compared to end-Q1 levels.

Meantime, the company continued to be the largest global softwood lumber producer for twelfth straight year in 2019, as per the annual FEA-Canada Billion Board Foot Club list.