Canadian lumber producer Conifex will pull its Mackenzie sawmill in northern British Columbia offline for about seven weeks from 19 May, with the temporary curtailment expected to strip 25 million board feet from Western SPF supply before a targeted July restart. That is according to Conifex Timber Inc, the BC-based softwood producer, in a statement to investors confirming the planned downtime.
The curtailment is tied to log inventory levels and fibre availability across the BC Interior, with seasonal logging breakup conditions across the region holding back deliveries to the mill. Conifex said logging operations are expected to resume in early June, subject to weather, with a return to production targeted for July.
The Mackenzie mill only restarted in February following a four-week curtailment that began on 15 December, which Conifex said was in response to weakness in North American lumber markets and lower benchmark Western SPF lumber prices. Reduced residential construction, slower repair-and-remodel activity, elevated interest rates and higher countervailing and anti-dumping duties on Canadian softwood lumber shipped to the United States all dragged on demand through the first quarter.
That February restart followed the completion of a $19 million secured term loan for subsidiary Conifex Mackenzie Forest Products Inc, with the company saying in March the mill was progressing towards normalised operations. Conifex had expected to return to two-shift schedules in the second half of 2026, subject to adequate fibre supply, a target now complicated by the May curtailment.
It comes as Canadian softwood producers shipping into the United States face cumulative countervailing and anti-dumping duty rates that have climbed under successive US Department of Commerce administrative reviews, with the duties stacked on top of fibre and market headwinds across the BC Interior.
Mackenzie now goes offline for the second time in six months, with 25 million board feet of Western SPF supply absent from the market until July, and Conifex flagging fibre availability as the gating constraint on any return to two-shift production in the second half of 2026.
