British Columbia’s forestry sector is hitting pause as some companies are suspending operations to cut production — just in time for Christmas. Production curtailments, the latest announced by Canfor Corp. Monday, are a turnaround from a year ago when the industry was riding a high from a pandemic-recovery surge in home construction. “It looks like one wave of temporary curtailments after another,” said Jeff Bromley, United Steelworkers Union wood council chairperson. “I just got wind that Tolko (Industries) is taking some down time as well, throughout its B.C. plants.” The latest production cuts, however, come at the end of a year in which inflation and higher interest rates have threatened to spark a recession and “markets have dropped off a cliff,” said Bromley. …Madison’s Lumber Reporter reveals falling lumber prices, so it isn’t surprising to see some of the mills taking some down time now, said Keta Kosman, publisher of Madison’s Lumber Reporter.

Additional coverage by Rod Link in the Omineca Express: Canfor shuts down Plateau mill for four weeks