After a choppy summer, mill curtailments have spread across multiple regions—tightening supply in key softwood lines used for custom homes (DF/Hem-Fir in the Pacific Northwest and SYP in the South) and re-introducing price volatility.
Who’s curtailed or closed?
Interfor – Announced system-wide production cuts through year-end by reducing hours, reconfiguring shifts, and extending maintenance/holiday downtime; this follows the indefinite closure of its Philomath, OR mill in 2024 (≈220 MMBF).
Canfor – Permanently closing Estill and Darlington, SC sawmills (effective Aug 2025), citing persistently weak conditions and sustained losses.
West Fraser – Indefinite curtailment at Lake Butler, FL (announced Sept 2024), trimming U.S. capacity by ~110 MMBF.
Weyerhaeuser – Indefinite curtailment at New Bern, NC (July 2024), halting operations due to market and site-specific factors.
Hampton Lumber – Banks, OR sawmill closed indefinitely (Jan 2024).
These moves have already nudged futures and cash sentiment: the September round of curtailments helped stabilize lumber prices after a sharp pullback.
Why now? Contributing factors
Start–stop housing demand & rates
Higher-for-longer borrowing costs cooled single-family starts and R&R, compressing mill margins and prompting downtime. (Reflected in company commentary tied to weak lumber realizations and demand softness.)Fiber/log costs & regional log supply
Several curtailments explicitly referenced high fiber costs (Southeast) and constrained PNW log availability (impacting DF/Hem-Fir appearance grades).Trade policy overhang
Duties on Canadian imports rose year-over-year, and a recent Section 232 national-security action on wood products added fresh uncertainty about future import costs—both supportive of U.S. price floors when domestic output is trimmed.Operational resets
Producers are increasingly using planned curtailments (reduced hours, extended breaks) to balance inventories and cash flow rather than run full-tilt into weak realizations.
What it means for custom-home builders & luxury specs
Premium DF/Hem-Fir & timbers (PNW)
With PNW curtailments/closures (Philomath, Banks), expect longer lead times and firmer basis on kiln-dried, tight-grain and appearance grades (panels, soffits, paneling, beams). Substitution toward imported clears and specialty cedar/hemlock is likely where specs allow.Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) framing (Southeast)
Closures/curtailments in SC, FL, NC remove local supply slack. Result: price chop and occasional pockets of shortage on higher grades/MSR and wider widths—especially where distribution relies on those specific mills.Pricing & procurement
After falling into late summer, prices firmed on the curtailment headlines. For Q4 bid work, plan for wider spreads between commodity #2&Btr and premium clears/MSR, and pad schedules on specialty profiles.