This year’s series of B.C. mill closures and production curtailments have affected more than 5,900 workers at 25 mills in 22 communities, according to provincial estimates.

The B.C. Interior sawlog supply continues to collapse relative to established sawmill and plywood operational mill capacity. The plunging timber supply is the result of factors that include the residual impacts of the MPB epidemic, forest fires, spruce bark beetle outbreak and caribou habitat protection. This cumulative deficit forecasts (conservatively) indicate that there will be the equivalent of an additional 13 sawmill closures over the next decade (starting in early May 2019),