A company that owns sawmills in Castlegar and Grand Forks is reporting a net loss in the third quarter of $45.6 million.
Interfor says that is compared to net earnings of $1 million in the second quarter of this year and a net loss of nearly $216 million in the third quarter of last year. Year-to-date, Interfor has posted a net loss of $108 million, compared to a loss of $240 million through the first nine months of 2025.
In its earnings report released Thursday, the company said lumber prices increased in the third quarter in most of the regions where it operates. Lumber production was up 25 million board feet compared to the previous quarter, due to the ramp-up of a recently rebuilt mill in Georgia and higher operating rates in BC and the southern US.
“North American lumber markets over the near term are expected to remain volatile as the economy continues to adjust to changing monetary policies, tariffs, oil price volatility and geo-political uncertainty, and as industry-wide lumber production continues to adjust to match demand,” the company said.
Interfor said that volatility will likely be “amplified” by American dudties on Canadian lumber exports, although the company insists it is “well positioned” to face that volatility because of its diversified product mix in Canada and the US. About 65 per cent of the company’s lumber is produced and sold within the US, while about 20 per cent is exported from Canada to the US.
Interfor said over the mid-term, Canadian lumber is expected to remain a key source to meet US needs.
Not mentioned in the earnings report was the company’s plan to move its head office from Burnaby to Georgia, which was panned by the BC Conservatives as “yet another calamity” for the BC forest industry, but downplayed by both the United Steelworkers and the mayor of Grand Forks.
