Irving closing sawmill 110 workers jobless at Ashland

ASHLAND – Increasingly depressed lumber prices have forced the Canadian woodlands giant J.D. Irving Ltd. temporarily to close its Pinkham sawmill in Ashland, according to a Tuesday announcement.

The closing, which affects 110 employees, will take effect on Jan. 12, said Mary Keith, Irving spokeswoman.

The current price for 1,000 feet of lumber delivered in Boston is $278, an amount $20 less than last week’s price and 30 percent less than in January, Keith said.

An additional 40 employees were laid off in October because of low lumber prices.

“The employees of the Pinkham sawmill are a dedicated, hardworking group,” Gaston Poitras, vice president of sawmills for J.D. Irving Ltd., said in a prepared statement. “In a small community like Ashland, they are neighbors as well a co-workers.”

Poitras said that personnel requirements in the woodland and specialty products operations in Maine would be reviewed to determine alternative work opportunities for the Ashland employees.

The economic situation will be reviewed 30 days after the shutdown. The company will resume operations on a one-shift basis as soon as the market recovers to a viable level, according to Irving officials.

Over the last two years, the company has invested almost $3 million in improvements at the Pinkham mill and created 50 new jobs.

In the last 10 weeks, however, the lumber slump has resulted in the closing of an Irving Mill in Quebec and reduced operations and layoffs in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

Meanwhile, plans for a new $100 million wood products manufacturing plant at the Loring Commerce Centre in Limestone are on hold because of the depressed lumber market.

Irving announced earlier this summer that it purchased an option on 415 acres at the former military base. About 200 jobs would have been created.

“It’s still in the option phase,” said Brian Hamel, president of the Loring Development Authority of Maine, which is overseeing the development of the LCC.

“They haven’t indicated they plan to exercise their option.”