Domtar has announced market downtime at Timmins and Val d’Or.

At Timmins, one shift will be withdrawn from the production schedule starting on May 19, for an indefinite period of time. This decision has been dictated by a significant increase in supply and manufacturing costs, combined with a pronounced slowdown in the North American construction industry. These negative factors have had a major impact on the competitive position of the Timmins mill, forcing Domtar to take steps to alleviate the difficulties.

At Val d’Or, the sawmill will be close on April 4th and operations will begin again on May 26. This downtime is necessary to reduce current inventory. During this period, the planer mill will operate on one shift. Jean-François Mérette, Senior Vice President of Domtar, mentioned the important efforts to reduce costs by all employees at Val d’Or. Without this sustained effort, the impact of the market downturn would be highly detrimental to the competitive position of the Val d’Or sawmill.

Domtar said these shutdowns are necessary because of the degrading market conditions over the last few months.