Effective Oct. 11, 330 people in Dryden will be out of work. Weyerhaeuser has announced it is permanently closing its Dryden sawmill and reducing the workforce at its pulp and paper facility due to market conditions. The sawmill closure will affect 110 jobs, while the pulp and paper reduction affects an additional 220.
“The forest industry today faces serious challenges and change is essential to ensure we have a sustainable future at Dryden both in the short and long term,” says Norm Bush, vice-president, Ontario. “A combination of factors led to this difficult decision, including uncompetitive costs, oversupply of lumber and paper products, the rising Canadian dollar, and the impact of softwood lumber tariffs on shipments to the United States.
“By making these changes, we are positioning our operations to be more competitive and successful in the short and long term, thereby providing more job and community stability for the future.”
The Dryden sawmill is a small, older facility, with high costs and without sufficient wood supply available to achieve competitive scale, a company spokesperson says. Job reductions in pulp and paper will bring the workforce to a level more comparable to similar mills.
