Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (123879)	1/11/2008 6:08:19 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 362863

They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks Foreman says these jobs are going', boys and they ain't coming back to Your hometown, your hometown, your hometown, your hometown Harwood Mill shuts down By Linda Williams/TWN Staff Writer Article Launched: 01/09/2008 11:09:11 AM PST Harwood Products advised employees on December 26 the Branscomb mill would shutdown during January in response to the poor lumber prices. The mill is in the process of shutting down now and the first employees were laid off on January 2, according to Art Harwood, president and CEO of Harwood Products. In December, the mill employed about 240 employees. Harwood expects as many as 200 employees will receive notices in a series of layoffs as the mill operations wind down. Harwood Products will continue to ship products to customers, drawing down inventories during the shutdown. The mill will remain shutdown until market conditions improve, says Harwood. "We hope it is back up and running the first part of February as the best case," says Harwood. "We know the longer we are shutdown the harder it will be to get back up. Hopefully the lumber market will rebound and we can start back up in the near future." Most of the timber run through the Harwood mill during the past few years has been locally grown and harvested. "To have the mill go down is just a shock. It is bigger than just one mill. It affects the loggers, the timber land owners and everyone that supports them," says John Pinches, Third District Supervisor. "I think this is the local result of NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement]. We have to do more to protect local markets." "Harwood Products has been real resilient over the years and don't count them out," Pinches adds. The lumber market prices have continued to drop nationwide in response to the continuing slump in the housing industry. The Western Wood Products Association predicts slower lumber markets through much of 2008 with the steepest declines of 25 percent below the 2005 period predicted for the California redwood region. Lumber prices, according to the National Association of Home Builders, were at $474 per 1,000 board feet in August of 2004 and have dropped to $262 for the same material in January 2008. The lumber prices are a casualty of the upheaval in the national financial situation, with new housing starts now at their lowest level since 1991, having dropped by almost 50 percent since 2005. This shutdown leaves only three operating mills in the county, down from the nearly 200 sawmills operating after World War II. In 1892, there were 24 saw mills. Mendocino Forest Company's mill in Fort Bragg shut down in 2003, which left Harwood Products as the last mill cutting Douglas fir lumber in the county. Countywide employment in wood manufacturing industries continues to decline. In 1994 there were 1,780 workers employed in the business. By 2006, the number of workers had dropped to 940. willitsnews.com