South Carolina Loggers Struggle With Mill Closures and Excess Wood Supply

On Thursday, ABC affiliate WPDE took an in-depth look at the impact that recently curtailed or permanently closed paper and pulp mills are having on South Carolina log harvesting companies and the general economy in the area.

Crad Jaynes with the South Carolina Timber Producer’s Association told WPDE the following:

“The shutdown of the mills, it’s the ripple effect. With the closing of West Rock and North Charleston, Pactiv Evergreen’s mill in Canton, North Carolina. Sonoco Products Company in Hartsville changing to 100% recycled material to make their products and not take raw wood fiber. Then we had two machines shut down in Riegelwood, North Carolina. So, when you look at it, it affected our lower coastal plain, the northwest portion of upper South Carolina.”

Jaynes called 2023 the most challenging year he’s ever seen for SC loggers, adding that some of those closures have led to an excess of wood supply: 2.6 million tons of pulpwood alone. “That slows the wood flow. And that includes pulp, paper, containerboard, solid wood products, lumber, oriented strandboard, thinks like that.”

The Forestry Commission places timber production as the top job provider in South Carolina. It contributes more than $20 billion to the economy and is only second to tourism for its economic impact.

However, with the mill shutdowns, data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows South Carolina saw an 85% decline in product value for forest ag products, WPDE reported. That was the greatest rate of real GDP decline in the “Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting” category among the available state data for 2023.