Logging giant Canfor considers sale of more northern B.C. assets

One week after it announced it would be closing down two mills in northern British Columbia, Canadian logging giant Canfor is considering selling more of its assets in the region.

In a statement, a Canfor spokesperson said the company "remains committed to exploring opportunities to divest some of its northern B.C. tenure," and will consider several parties' pitches to buy its assets, in order to support other B.C. businesses struggling to access wood. 

Its announcement comes after John Brink, owner of the Prince George-based Brink Group of Companies, approached Canfor to buy some of its assets — including the mills in Fort St. John and Vanderhoof that Canfor said would close by the end of the year.

"I love the industry and I'm really — to be blunt — very pissed off about what's happening, putting all those jobs at risk," Brink told CBC's Daybreak North on Friday. "I have a plan out there to keep those mills running."

Series of closures

Vancouver-based Canfor, which has significant operations overseas, has closed 10 of 13 mills it had in B.C. over the past decade, according to the United Steelworkers union.

It's part of a wave of mill closures and job losses in the industry. Employment in logging has been trending downwards in Canada for decades, with Statistics Canada showing B.C. had lost more than 40,000 forestry sector jobs since the early 1990s.

Forestry researchers say current levels of timber harvest in B.C. are unsustainable, as invasive beetle outbreaks and climate-driven effects like wildfires threaten forest health and timber supply.

In 2022, Canfor said it would start reducing its B.C. operations due to challenging market conditions, including inflation and unsustainable levels of timber inventory. 

On Monday, the company finalized the sale of its licence to log the fourth-largest timber supply area in B.C. to two First Nations. 

Earlier this year, Canfor shut down its Polar Sawmill in Bear Lake, B.C., affecting hundreds of jobs. Another 500 employees' jobs were put in jeopardy last week when Canfor announced it would shut down the Fort St. John and Vanderhoof sawmills.

Brink says his company relies on those locations for their timber supply. When Canfor made the announcement last week, Brink said his company was already attempting to buy the Polar Sawmill and its associated logging rights.

"I saw this as an opportunity to secure fibre," he said. "Access to fibre for us has always been a problem. Timber is not available to us."

Brink says he wants to buy the Fort St. John and Vanderhoof mills and forest tenure — which he says are "critical" to his company's operations — but he did not specify a price.

LISTEN | John Brink on his plan to buy northern B.C. mills: 

Daybreak North12:06Brink outlines plan to buy Canfor assets

Forestry CEO says people have phoned him in tears worried about their jobs

Harry Nelson, associate professor of forestry at the University of British Columbia, said in response to the spread of pine beetle infestation, forestry companies in northern B.C. pushed lots of timber through fewer mills to raise profit margins — a model that may no longer be profitable.

"[The model] is sensitive to being able to find lots of volume," he said. "So now, the question is: 'How much timber volume is out there, especially after we have fires and these other kinds of insect outbreaks?'"

Nelson said the recent closures and forest tenure sale may be a sign that the players in the northern B.C. forestry industry are changing. 

"We used to have a more kind of mix of small and medium and large size mills before the beetle came through," he said. "We might now once again see the emergence of a more evenly distributed set of sizes."

He added Canfor's announcement may prompt more bids. The transfer of forest tenure must be approved by the province, Nelson said.

In an email to CBC News, a B.C. Ministry of Forests spokesperson said the ministry is aware of the announcement, and would stay in touch with the parties involved.