West Fraser Announces Reduction in Operations at Multiple Locations in Western Canada

On Tuesday (11-30-21) morning, West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. provided an update on their British Columbia operations following recent weeks of severe weather and flooding in the province.

West Fraser has announced that while the magnitude and duration of the impact from current weather events remains uncertain, it has reduced operating schedules at multiple western Canadian locations and will continue to make such adjustments as necessary in order to manage inventory levels, raw material supplies, and its integrated fiber supply chain.

Currently, it is not possible to estimate when full transportation services will resume or when the backlogs resulting from the interruptions will be cleared. West Fraser noted that since the onset of the severe weather and flooding and the closing of roads and rail lines their western Canadian lumber weekly shipments have declined by 25‒30%. In addition, the company’s pulp shipments to the port of Vancouver, where the majority of its export pulp ships, have averaged less than 20% of normal volumes.

West Fraser also said in the announcement that it does not anticipate providing another update ahead of its annual and fourth-quarter earnings release scheduled for February 15, 2022.