B.C. forestry giant Canfor Pulp says it is permanently closing the pulp line at one of its Prince George mills, which will result in about 300 jobs lost.
The move comes as several forestry companies around the world are downsizing their operations due to changes in the market.
Kevin Edgson says the lack of raw material for creating market pulp led to the decision.
“In recent years, several sawmills have permanently closed in the Prince George region due to deductions in the allowable annual cut and challenges accessing cost-competitive fibre,” the Canfor president and CEO said in a written statement.
“This has had a material impact on the availability of residual fibre for our pulp facilities and we need to right-size our operating platform.”
The pulp line converted wood fibre into market kraft pulp, which is used for the manufacture of products including paper, tissues and towels.
The company says the pulp line at its Prince George Pulp and Paper Mill will be phased out by the end of March, cutting approximately 300 positions across the organization.
“We expect about 300 jobs in Prince George will be lost across the Canfor Pulp organization with the shutdown of the pulp line at PG Pulp and Paper Mill. This includes staff and hourly positions,” a spokesperson for the company said in an email statement.
“We will be working closely with the Public and Private Workers of Canada Local 9 which represents our employees at both the PG Pulp and Intercon mills to ensure that the Collective Agreement is followed and to support employees who are losing their job through this transition.”
A specialty paper facility at the mill will continue to operate.
Reduced operations across the industry
Canfor operates a total of four mills in Prince George, including a sawmill, the Prince George Pulp and Paper Mill, Northwood Pulp Mill and Intercontinental Pulp, each specializing in different wood and paper products.
However, operations at these locations have been curtailed in recent months.
Last week, the company said it would be extending sawmill curtailments across B.C. due to what it says are ongoing weak economic conditions and a lack of available fibre, affecting workers in Prince George, Chetwynd, Vanderhoof and Houston, B.C.
One of Canfor’s mills is pictured in the background. The company says operations at its mills have been curtailed in recent months. (CBC News)
Similarly, Tolko Industries announced the extension of downtime at its Soda Creek and Armstrong Lumber operations, citing market uncertainty, a move impacting more than 350 employees.
And earlier Wednesday, Burnaby-based Interfor Corp., said it will be reducing lumber production by at least eight per cent this quarter as market uncertainty affects demand.
Those cuts, the company said, will likely impact its operations in the U.S. — a move similar to that made by the B.C.-based West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd., who on Tuesday said it would indefinitely curtail its Perry Sawmill in Florida later in January due to high fibre costs and softening lumber markets.
The lumber market has gone through unprecedented volatility in prices in recent years as the industry went through supply and demand shocks brought on in part by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his mandate letter to new forests minister Bruce Ralston, Eby wrote there is an “inescapable recognition that change is needed to ensure our forest industry is sustainable.”
Logs are pictured at a sawmill in Merritt, B.C., in February 2022. Premier David Eby warned that the province’s forestry sector has ‘never been under greater stress.’ (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Bob Simpson, former mayor of Quesnel and former B.C. cabinet minister currently serving on a forestry advisory committee for the province, says although the forest industry has gone through change in the past, it’s never been as significant as what is currently underway.
“I think it’s a higher degree of curtailments across the province, across the sector, that’s added a higher degree of uncertainty against the backdrop of pretty significant inflationary measures,” he said in an interview on CBC Daybreak North last week.
He also said the decline is the result of the industry failing to adapt to a changing economic and environmental climate, spending years clear-cutting and exporting raw logs for short-term profits rather than long-term sustainability.
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
