With the sale of its sawmills in Val-d’Or and Matagami, its remanufacturing plant in Val-d’Or as well as the closure of its Montréal corporate office, Interfor will exit its operations in Québec. The buyer has been named as Chantiers Chibougamau Ltée, a long-standing, privately-held, Québec-based forestry company. The purchase price is estimated to be US-$30 million.
Lately, the two sawmills failed to reach the cumulative production capacity of around 400,000 m³ a year. The company states that they only had a utilization rate of approximately 80% over the past twelve months. According to Interfor, the divestment will result in a 5% decrease in overall capacity. In 2023, the group produced around 6.7 million m³ of softwood lumber in 29 sawmills.
The divestment is part of Interfor’s strategy to fully realize synergies with EACOM Timber Corporation, which was acquired three years ago.
Interfor still operates seven sawmills and a further processing facility in the neighboring provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick. The company gives the log supply situation, which has further deteriorated as a result of the forest fires, as main reason for the decision to exit Québec province. The sawmills in Ontario and New Brunswick are said to be better positioned in this respect.
