Tembec today announced that it will delay the resumption of harvesting activities to late fall 2008 in the Northern Ontario West Region. Today’s decision will temporarily affect approximately 100 unionized and staff employees.

“Relative to present and forecasted market conditions, there is a sufficient supply of logs to meet production requirements. Given the stockpiles already in mill yards and in-bush inventories, we can delay the resumption of bush operations in the Northern Ontario West Region until November. Normal road construction and road maintenance work as well as reforestation will continue during the summer,” said Mike Martel, Vice President, Ontario Division of Tembec’s Forest Products Group. “To minimize the impact on our employees, we intend to start our harvesting early in November for the Gordon Cosens Forest and a few weeks later in the Hearst Forest.”

“This harvesting suspension is another indication of the serious state of lumber market conditions, driven primarily by the dramatic fall in the number of housing starts in the United States and the related impact on lumber demand and pricing. The continued high value of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar as well as high energy and wood costs further aggravates these conditions,” concluded Dennis Rounsville, Executive Vice President and President of Tembec’s Forest Products Group.

Management has met with employees to inform them of the Company’s decision.

Source: Tembec Press Release