Louisiana's forest products industry took another blow with announcement on October 22 of the permanent closure of the International Paper Company containerboard mill at Pineville.

The Pineville closure is one of three permanent closures announced simultaneously, trimming IP's North American capacity by 2.1 million tons. A paper mill and associated operations in Franklin, Virginia, and a second containerboard mill in Albany, Oregon, will also close. Also, IP said it will permanently shut down the idled No. 3 machine at its Valliant, Oklahoma containerboard mill. The other two machines at Valliant will continue operating.

Shutdown at Pineville will impact 230 jobs, beginning in mid-December, idling 390,000 tons capacity annually.

Governor Bobby Jindal came to Pineville as the closure was announced, and joined local political and business leaders in expressing concern, and commitment to efforts to maintain jobs for workers in Louisiana.

The Pineville mill was built in 1968, and was acquired by IP in 1979.

IP closed its Bastrop, Louisiana kraft paper mill one year ago, in December 2008, idling 550 jobs and a $39 million payroll in that northeast Louisiana city.

The sound of forest products plants door closings has become a steady beat over the past several months. The industry's slow decline during the past decade has become a precipitous drop within the past year as the worldwide recession continues to bite across the whole economic spectrum.

Boise stops
Boise Cascade announced at the end of September the closure of its Oakdale, Louisiana plywood mill, affectiong 130 workers. The company said it will keep a small crew at the mill to maintain it operational during down time, length of which was not specified. The Oakdale mill is one of the older facilities in the region, and probably feels market pressure from two more modern mills built within the past two years by the Roy O. Martin company at Oakdale in Allen parish, and Chopin in Natchitoches parish.

Within recent months, Boise has announced closures of a veneer plant at St. Helens, Oregon, and a plywood mill at White City, Oregon.

In August, Weyerhaeuser announced the permanent shutdown of its iLevel Lumber facility at Taylor, in Bienville Parish, and a workforce reduction of 29 jobs at its Dodson sawmill in Winn Parish. Two years ago, Weyerhaeuser can downgraded its Dodson plywood mill to making veneer only, for shipment to another facility, and then the permanent halt of veneer making as well.

Jeld-Wen waits
JELD-WEN, s postponing the opening of its nearly completed manufacturing plant one mile south of Dodson, "due to the sharp and prolonged downturn in the building and remodeling industries," the company announced in late September. Opening is not anticipated before at least 2012.

"Our existing wood-fiber plants are satisfying our current doorskin demand," said general manager Greg Takes. "But we remain committed to the Winn Parish area."

The operation is designed to utilize 75 - 85 employees when running at full capacity.

"We're disappointed to have this resource sitting unused," stated senior vice president John Pierce, who oversees the company's doorskin operations. "But I look forward to utilizing this plant at full capacity because it will signal good economic recovery for the national housing industry as well as provide solid employment opportunities for the community."

Because the plant's utilization is most heavily influenced by market demand factors, an estimated start-up date is not available.

JELD-WEN, Inc. is the world's leading manufacturer of reliable windows and doors. Based in Klamath Falls, Ore., JELD-WEN began as a small Oregon millwork plant in 1960 and has grown into a company with nearly 150 divisions and more than 20,000 employees worldwide. Today the company manufactures a full breadth of windows, doors and garage doors.

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