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By Adam Berls

forestry challenges

Conifex announces four week-long curtailment at Mackenzie sawmill

Nov 28, 2025 | 9:32 AM

PRINCE GEORGE — Conifex has announced that they will curtail their operations at their Mackenzie sawmill for four weeks, starting December 15, 2025.

Conifex says that the curtailment is being put in place “in response to, among other things, continued weakness in North American lumber markets.” Conifex also notes that:

“Benchmark Western SPF prices have declined sharply over the past several months due to a slowdown in new residential construction, soft repair-and-remodel activity, elevated interest rates, and the impact of recently increased countervailing and anti-dumping duties on Canadian softwood lumber shipped to the United States. The duty and tariff increases have significantly compressed cash margins across the sector and resulted in operating losses for many producers.”

Due to these conditions, Conifex says that they believe that “temporarily reducing production is the best course of action to minimize operating losses. ” The curtailment, according to Conifex, is expected to reduce Conifex’s production by approximately 13 million board feet.

However, in their news release, Conifex says that “power generation operations and competitive log cost structure at Mackenzie continue to provide important support to our business during this difficult period.” and that they remain committed to the Mackenzie region, their employees, customers and will continue to monitor market conditions closely.

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“While the decision to reduce our year-end operating schedules was difficult, and we regret the impact this will have on our employees, their families, and the community, we are encouraged by the fact that the Mackenzie TSA has the highest sawlog surplus of any TSA in the Interior region of B.C. The recent federal announcement expanding the BDC Softwood Lumber Guarantee Program and providing additional support through the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan facility is an important step, and swift implementation will be critical to capturing the benefits of these programs. We do not anticipate any challenges securing sawlogs to maintain capacity operations in the future once market conditions permit a return to full operations,” said Andrew McLellan, President and COO of Conifex.

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X: @AdamBerls

Email: Adam.Berls@pattisonmedia.com