South's Embattled Pine Growers Hit With More Mill Closures -- WSJ

By Ryan Dezember

North America's largest lumber producer said it would indefinitely curtail production at an Arkansas sawmill as well as a big wood-panel facility in Alabama, adding to the woes of Southern pine growers who are struggling with dwindling markets.

West Fraser said it would wind down operations by the end of the year at its lumber mill in Leola, Ark., and its facility in Lanett, Ala., that makes oriented-strand board, or OSB. The Vancouver, B.C., company blamed weak home construction and renovation markets.

"Over the last quarter, housing affordability continued to be a key constraint," said Chief Executive Sean McLaren, who added that higher energy costs were also a factor in the closures. "With no near-term visibility on an improvement in demand, we took further steps today to align our supply with customer demand."

House hunters are contending with some of the highest mortgage rates in years. Borrowing costs have also hampered the home-repair and remodeling markets since the big jobs that require a lot of wood are often the types of projects that are financed.

West Fraser's closure of its OSB mill will be particularly painful for owners of timberlands around the Alabama-Georgia line, where the facility is located. Those states have been hard hit by a rash of pulp mill closures, which consume the same small diameter logs as OSB plants.

Collapsing demand for small-diameter logs has endangered the pine plantation system that has dominated the South's rural economy for nearly 100 years. Thousands of pine growers in the region have been counting on OSB production to absorb the flood of logs once destined for pulp and paper mills.

Analysts estimate that West Fraser's Lanett mill accounts for about 2% of North American OSB capacity and will bring to about 10% the total capacity reduction this year in the U.S. and Canada.

McLaren told investors Thursday that West Fraser has no plans for the mills beyond winding down operations "but the bar is pretty high for a restart."

Read more about the decline of Southern pulpwood markets:

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October 29, 2026 12:55 ET (16:55 GMT)