Greenfield Sawmills Coming To The South, CLT To The Northeast

During the first quarter of 2018, four announcements were made of plans to build greenfield sawmills in the U.S. South.  Combined, the companies making the investments plan to spend $480 million on facilities that are projected to have a total annual production capacity of more than one billion board feet of lumber once operational.  In 2017, the U.S. South produced 18.2 BBF of lumber, according to Lumber Track, a publication of the Western Wood Products Association.

Georgia-Pacific and Canfor announced they will build new mills in Georgia, near Augusta; Rex Lumber Co. is planning a new facility in Southeast Alabama; and Canada’s Tolko Industries is partnering with Louisiana-based Hunt Forest Products to build a new mill in Urania.  These announcements come on top of other capital investments lumber companies are making in their existing facilities to bump up production capacity.

Also during the first quarter, two manufacturers of cross-laminated timber (CLT)—a relatively new but rapidly growing wood construction product in the U.S.—have announced plans to locate facilities in Maine, the first in the Northeast.  The two companies plan to invest $52 million on facilities that will initially produce more than 10 million board feet of CLT annually.

North Carolina-based LignaTerra Global, LLC, plans to build its CLT production plant in Millinocket.  Montana-based SmartLam, LLC, the nation’s first manufacturer of CLT, said it will announce the location of its new facility in the next two months.

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