This blog includes data from Forisk’s North American Mill Capacity Database, a database of over 2,300 wood-using mills in North America. For more information on the mill database or Forisk’s other products, please visit www.forisk.com or contact Nick DiLuzio at ndiluzio@forisk.com.

Recent forest industry mill developments highlight the dynamic nature of the forest industry, underscoring both challenges and opportunities for growth and innovation. Several firms closed sawmills since September: Weyerhaeuser in New Bern, NC; West Fraser in Lake Butler, FL; Interfor in Meldrim, GA and Summerville, SC; Canfor in Mobile, AL; and Teal-Jones in Antlers, OK. Others reopened, including Sigurdson Forest Products in British Columbia and DR Johnson in Prairie City, OR. Carthage Timber Products in Carthage, AR; RFOR in Bellemont, AZ; and Canfor in Axis, AL, are commissioning new sawmills. Suzano completed the purchase of the Pine Bluff, AR pulp mill, including two local chip facilities used to support the operation. Kap Paper has completed its spin-off from GreenFirst Forest Products in Ontario. Paper Excellence has rebranded and will now operate as Domtar.

The table below includes many recently completed updates for forest product manufacturers:

Two Rivers begins construction of a new sawmill in Kellyton, AL. Pactiv Evergreen Packaging planned to sell the closed Canton, NC, pulp mill to Spirtas Worldwide. However, Hurricane Helene flooded the mill site before closing, and this deal has been placed on hold as the parties litigate the terms. Dupont Pine Products plans to open a 197 M Ton/yr pellet facility adjacent to their operating sawmill in Homerville, GA. International Paper announced plans to close the Georgetown pulp mill by year-end 2024, removing nearly 700 jobs from coastal South Carolina. Georgetown’s fluff pulp production will be redistributed to other International Paper pulp mills. Weyerhaeuser announced a $500 million 10 MM Cubic Foot Laminated Strand Lumber mill to be built outside of Monticello, AR. The proposed mill will be operational in late 2027 and employ around 200 people.

The former Besse Forest Products mills in the Lake States are for sale. The Hoffman Family of Companies (HFOC) placed the recently purchased facilities in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for sale on August 2, six months after purchase. Northern Hardwoods, south of Houghton, MI, has received $4.8 million in state aid to rebuild a boiler in 2025. TimberHP in Madison, ME, offered a series B financing to raise $60 million to add the third solid board insulation line, increasing capacity to 144 M Tons. The project is expected to complete in Q1 2025. Timberlab purchased the recently closed Interfor Philomath, OR sawmill and announced plans to reopen it in 2026. The sawmill will support the newly announced mass timber plant also being built by Timberlab in Millersburg, OR. Rosboro will retool and reopen their sawmill in Springfield, OR, by 2026 as a laminating stock mill for their new glulam facility to be built. Sofidel Group completed an agreement to purchase the tissue business from Clearwater Paper for $1.06 billion, including the Lewiston, ID tissue production facility.

Interfor will sell two sawmills and a remanufacturing facility to Chantiers Chibougamau, effective in Q4 2024, for $21.8 million. The transaction raises the total nameplate capacity for Chantiers Chibougamau in Quebec to 885 MMBF, becoming the second-largest lumber producer in the province behind Domtar. Resolute Forest Products, now Domtar, has completed a $42 million modernization of the Senneterre, QC, sawmill. One Sky Forest Products received approval to build a new OSB mill in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Construction is expected to begin in summer 2025. Mercer International in Castlegar, BC, expects to complete a wood room modernization in Q1 2025 at a cost of over $7 million.