BEAVER – Portac Inc.’s sawmill on Wednesday began a shutdown of at least one week because it’s operating at a loss, said a company official.
“We’re just one of the many mills that’s going down,” said Terry Mathern, personnel administrator at Portac Inc.’s Tacoma headquarters.
The company plans to idle the Beaver sawmill’s 54 employees until at least Oct. 24.
The company’s planer mill in Forks, which has 55 employees, will continue operating as long as its log supply continues.
“It’s not a normal shutdown,” Mathern said.
“It’s because of the log supply and poor lumber markets.
“We have record low lumber prices and record high log prices.”
Mathern said the situation would be re-evaluated each week.
“It just doesn’t make sense to continue operating your mill at a loss,” he said.
If the company’s planer mill in Forks runs out of inventory, operation will stop there, also, Mathern said.
“If there’s nothing to run, we’ll shut that down, too,” he said.
