The future of Arclin’s unfinished resin plant in Sexsmith, Alberta, depends on a healthy western US housing market, and whether curtailed OSB mills in the region reopen, the company’s president and ceo said. The plant, near completion, was idled a little over a year ago.
The Daily Herald-Tribune in Grande Prairie quoted Claudio D’Ambrosio saying the plant was built primarily for the western US housing market and potential customers in Alberta and British Columbia. But a lot of those plants make OSB, and about half are closed because of reduced US housing starts.
Mr D’Ambrosio said Arclin initially planned to suspend completion for 18-24 months until the housing market improved. But now he says the plant’s fate “depends on whether the Alberta and British Columbia OSB plants start up again.”
Ontario-based Arclin currently supplies western customers through production at its Kamloops, British Columbia, and Thunder Bay, Ontario, plants.
