Steve Zika

Eight years ago, Hampton Lumber purchased a mill along the Skipanon River employing nearly 100 people from fellow wood products company Weyerhaeuser. Hampton invested an estimated $18 million renovating the mill and now directly employs about 150 people there turning out up to 200 million board feet of Douglas fir and hemlock lumber.  Steve Zika, the CEO of Hampton Lumber since 2006, recently met with The Daily Astorian and detailed the company’s local presence. …The U.S. International Trade Commission recently upheld tariffs of more than 20 percent on lumber imports from Canada, ruling the neighbor to the north subsidizes and dumps timber on the American market. Overseeing mills on both sides of the border, Zika provided his take on the issue of Canadian subsidies and tariffs. …The U.S. coalition says that the lumber producers up there are subsidized with cheap logs. I don’t believe that’s the case.