Some 127 sawmills in the US and Canada have closed permanently in the past three years, according to industry newsletter Random Lengths.
Random Lengths, quoting data from US Department of Agriculture’s Henry Spelter, said the closures represented 8.9 billion board feet of production capacity.
British Columbia has seen the biggest decline with 17 mills closing, equating to 2.3 billion board feet. Other Canadian provinces have seen 46 mills close (2 billion board feet).
Western US states have lost 22 mills (2.8 billion board feet), while the southern sawmilling industry has seen 26 mills shut their doors (1.6 billion board feet).
