South Africa’s Stevens Lumber Mills Announces 90-Day Temporary Layoff Due to Resource Constraints

One of South Africa’s long-established sawmills, Stevens Lumber Mills (SLM), has announced a 90-day temporary layoff period due to increasing power outages (load shedding) and the tight supply of logs, according to reporting by Moneyweb. SML is located in Limpopo, the northmost province in South Africa.

Roy Southey, Sawmilling South Africa’s executive director, told Moneyweb on Friday (3-10-23) that he was aware of the temporary layoff at SLM and said that it is not unexpected that some mills are suffering because of load shedding and resource constraints.

“But all sawmills right now are battling tremendously in terms of profitability, cash flow, and financial constraints,” Southey added. “They are all finding it very difficult if you consider the power shedding is one of the major constraints and then you have resource availability issues for some mills, the cost of diesel that has accelerated incredibly over the last period, and the wage demands.”