Canfor sells Taylor, B.C., pulp mill for $7M

Canfor Pulp Products Inc. says it's entered an agreement to sell its Taylor pulp mill. 

The mill in northeastern B.C., which produces bleached chemi-thermo mechanical pulp for use in packaging and tissue products, is being sold for $7 million to an undisclosed buyer. 

Canfor Pulp president and CEO Kevin Edgson says the new owner is committed to repurposing the site and developing a long-term plan that will benefit the community of around 1,000 people, which lies between Fort St. John and Dawson Creek about 800 kilometres north of Vancouver.

The sale is expected to close during the first quarter, at which point the buyer will be identified.

The mill has been closed since the end of 2021, when Canfor announced what were supposed to be temporary curtailments due to shipping issues.

Those curtailments were extended until the beginning of 2023 when Canfor said it did not see a path to reopening due to "a reduction in the long-term supply of fibre in the Peace region."

Taylor is not the only community to have been impacted by those changes.

Canfor also closed the pulp line at its Prince George, B.C., mill last year, blaming a lack of fibre, and permanently closed its Chetwynd sawmill, around 80 kilometres southwest of Taylor, for the same reason.

The company has also temporarily closed its Houston, B.C., mill with the intention of rebuilding it later this year.

The company reported a loss for the third quarter of 2023, due in part to soft global pulp market conditions.