Commenting on the Company’s fourth quarter of 2024 results, Canfor’s President and Chief Executive OFcer, Susan Yurkovich, said, “Following several quarters of very weak global lumber market conditions, we were pleased to see a slight uplift in North American benchmark lumber prices during the fourth quarter, which gave rise to improved results across all our lumber operating regions. While we anticipate subdued yet volatile market conditions to persist in the near-term, we continue to believe that longer term lumber market fundaments remain solid. Operationally, with our geographically diverse platform, we are well-positioned to navigate external challenges facing our lumber business, including the tariHs and increased duties on imports from Canada into the US.” “For our pulp business,” Yurkovich added “despite a slight improvement in market conditions late in the quarter, which resulted in an uplift in results, we continue to face external obstacles driven by persistent shortages in the availability of economic fibre in BC.”

SCA’s Wifstamon nursery had its seed extraction premier this past winter. Using an in-house developed kiln and seed separator, SCA can now process cones to obtain seeds from its own pine seed plantations. In the seed extraction process, the cones open up and release their seeds. It may sound simple, but it requires a quality-assured work method so as not to damage the valuable seeds. For many years, SCA has hired a contractor for its cone kilning, but as of this year, the company can process a large share of the cones itself. “It's good to be able to do some of the extraction in-house,” says Marlene Lagergren, who was the project manager for the project. “In addition, we create employment over the winter in our otherwise very seasonal business. And we enhance our skills,” adds Anders Tolblad, Manager at NorrPlant.

Over the last year, International Paper has conspicuously undergone a business overhaul under the guidance of CEO Andy Silvernail, who launched the streamlining initiative shortly after taking the top role in May 2024. Silvernail dug into what’s behind the changes, and the differences between the United States and European markets, during a Sept. 4 session at the Jefferies Industrials Conference. IP launched the 80/20 optimization plan in 2024, prompting series of changes. “It’s actually kind of breathtaking when you look at the number of actions that we have taken and the impact that we’ve had,” Silvernail said. As a recent example of the numerous adjustments, Silvernail cited the three announcements that IP simultaneously made on Aug. 21: the sale of its global cellulose fibers business to private equity firm American Industrial Partners for $1.5 billion; the closure of four sites in Georgia, including two mills, that will affect 1,100 hourly and salaried employees; and investing $250 million to convert the No. 16 machine at the Riverdale mill in Selma, Alabama, to produce containerboard instead of uncoated freesheet. The Savannah and Riceboro containerboard mills in Georgia are “aged or strategically inferior assets. And in our business, strategically inferior assets are simply a problem” with “terrible returns on capital,” he said. Keeping Savannah open would have required major repairs with a cost of roughly $300 million, and still that wouldn’t have produced the desired returns down the line, Silvernail said. Instead, the $250 million investment in Riverdale is not only cheaper on the front end but also will have notably better returns, he explained.