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High fibre costs, poor weather conditions during harvest and weak North American lumber and plywood markets are forcing an early end-of-year closure at multiple Tolko lumber plants in BC.
Tolko spokesperson Chris Downey said employees were notified this week of the mills taking downtime at their operations throughout the province.
The Vernon-based company announced closure dates, alongside regular statutory holidays, include:
- The sawmill and planermill at Armstrong Lumber will stop production after Friday, Dec. 20 and will resume operations on Monday, Jan. 6.
- The sawmill at Lavington will stop production after Friday, Dec. 20 and will resume operations on Monday, Jan. 6. The planermill and shipping will be running on some days during this time.
- Lakeview sawmill will stop production after Friday Dec. 13 and will resume operations on Monday, Jan. 6. The planermill will run as usual during this time
- Soda Creek sawmill will stop production after Friday, Dec. 20 and will resume operations on Monday, Jan. 20. The planermill will operate as required during this time.
- Heffley Creek will stop production after Friday, Dec. 20 and will resume operations on Monday, Jan. 6. Scales will be open for deliveries.
- Lake Country will be taking downtime from Dec. 23-27 and will resume production on Monday, Dec. 30.
- Armstrong Plywood and White Valley will only be closed for the statutory holidays plus Dec. 27.
Downey said Tolko will continue to operate their shipping departments as required to meet customer's needs.
"These decisions are not made without a lot of consideration — we have an extremely committed workforce whose families and communities rely on Tolko for stable jobs, and we recognize the impact this has on many employees," he added in an emailed statement.
"The BC policy and regulatory burden causing high costs and limiting access to available economic fibre for our BC manufacturing facilities continues to impact our BC footprint."
"BC will have a forest economy, and Tolko has the people, the presence, the history and the resilience to continue to be a major part of it."
In June, Tolko stated to have 2,700 employees, and 15 manufacturing locations across Canada and America. It was also named in B.C.’s top employers for 2024.
