Federal Way, WA, November 30, 2005--Weyerhaeuser Co. said Tuesday it would stop making fiberboard and particleboard, selling its six plants that make composite panels.
The closures are the latest in a string of announcements by Weyerhaeuser since early October in an effort to cut capacity. The cuts include the indefinite closure of a pulp and paper facility in Saskatchewan, a box-finishing operation in California, a sawmill and pulp mill in Washington, and a plywood mill in Oklahoma.
The composite-panels business was a small part of Weyerhaeuser's wood-products business, producing $122 million, a bit more than 2%, of the company's $5.6 billion of third-quarter sales.
The North American mills -- in Albany, Ore., Bennettsville, S.C., Eugene, Ore. Malvern, Ark., and Simsboro, La. -- will continue to produce medium-density fiberboard and particleboard while Weyerhaeuser seeks a buyer. Including a plant in Clonmel, Ireland, the mills employ about 1,000 people.
In late October, Weyerhaeuser sold its interest in its French composite-panels businesses to Spain's largest maker of medium-density fiberboard and particleboard, Financiera Maderera SA.
