Canfor Corp plans to build the world’s biggest sawmill in British Columbia.

Expected to cost C$26m, the company claims the move could make it North America’s lowest cost lumber producer.

The project would involve a reconfiguration of Canfor’s existing Houston sawmill in north-western BC and would see an increase in capacity from 450 million board feet a year to 600 million.

&#8220Our strategy is to run fewer mills at higher levels of efficiency and continuously. Gone are the days when you could run your mills at two shifts, five days a week and expect to be competitive ”

Canfor president David Emerson

Canfor president David Emerson said: “Our whole strategy is to run fewer mills at higher levels of efficiency and to run them continuously. Gone are the days when yoiu can run your mills at two shifts five days a week and expect to be competitive in the market place. The market has changed.

“The world has changed and now it is going to be continuous production, continuous supply-chain management.”