Columbia Forest Products plans to indefinitely idle its Rutherglen, Ontario, veneer mill, laying off about 70 employees.
The Rutherglen mill converts birch logs into decorative face veneers that are used in making hardwood plywood.
Announcing the curtailment in February, Columbia said the recession and competition from imported Chinese birch wood products had kept demand for domestic birch veneer down at historic low levels.
The company also said challenges in acquiring birch logs remained “a chronic problem for the Ontario based plant.”
The facility will be kept at a production-ready status for an efficient start-up when overall business climate improves.
