Interfor plans to temporarily reduce its lumber production by approximately 145 million board feet between now and December, with both Canadian and U.S. operations expected to be affected.
The company made the announcement in a Sept. 4 news release posted to its website.
"The temporary curtailments will be through a combination of reduced operating hours, prolonged holiday breaks, reconfigured shifting schedules and extended maintenance shutdowns," the company said in the release.
"The curtailments are expected to impact all of Interfor’s operating regions, with both the Canadian and U.S. operations expected to reduce their production levels by approximately 12 per cent each."
Citing "persistently weak market conditions and ongoing economic uncertainty" behind the decision, the company said it would watch market conditions and adjust its production plans accordingly.
In Northern Ontario, Interfor owns and operates sawmills in Ear Falls, Elk Lake, Gogama, Nairn Centre, and Timmins, along with an engineered wood plant in Sault Ste. Marie.
The company acquired the facilities in 2022 after buying EACOM and its assets for $490 million, which include operations in Quebec.
Headquartered in Burnaby, B.C., the forest products company traces its origins to the 1960s and has grown its presence across North America through a series of acquisitions.
Interfor recently made headlines following protests by Indigenous peoples opposed to the company's use of the herbicide glyphosate to manage weed growth in the North's forested areas, as contracted by the Ministry of Natural Resources.
A group known as Traditional Ecological Knowledge Elders, representing the Robinson Huron Treaty Territory, voiced its strong opposition to the practice after it was announced Interfor would conduct aerial spraying in August, in an area along the north shore of Lake Huron spanning Elliot Lake, Blind River and Espanola.
"The operation will douse over 4,500 hectares in a commercial formulation containing the herbicide glyphosate. Similar operations are planned across other forest management areas," the protesters said in a release at the time.
"This herbicide impacts aquatic life, and kills blueberries and other crucial foods, medicines and tree species necessary to forest life."
The ministry has said the treatment is necessary to help re-establish conifer forests, indicating that glyphosate does not build up in the environment.
— With files from Lisa Rene-de-Cotret, ElliotLakeToday
