Canfor Corporation is a Canadian integrated forest products company based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
History
The company traces its roots to the late 1930s, when brothers-in-law John G. Prentice and L.L.G. "Poldi" Bentley and their families left their native Austria just before the outbreak of World War II. They settled in Vancouver and built a small mill that was the beginning of the 73-year-old company.
In 2006, the company was subject to a proxy fight between billionaires Jim Pattison and Stephen A. Jarislowsky, who owned 30% and 18% of the firm's shares, respectively. Pattison won and ousted CEO Jim Shepherd over Canfor's poor performance and declining share price, which saw Jim Shepard appointed as interim CEO.
Current status
Poldi Bentley's son Peter Bentley is now the Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors. Canfor produces softwood lumber, plywood, oriented strand board and remanufactured lumber products. The majority of the company's operations are in British Columbia and Alberta; however, it owns a sawmill and timber harvesting rights in Quebec as well as numerous locations in the southern United States. Canfor also owns a controlling share in Canfor Pulp Limited, which produces northern softwood kraft pulp and kraft paper in BC.
As of 2010, the company has an annual production capability of 4.8 billion board feet of lumber, 270 million square board feet of plywood, and 1 billion square board feet of oriented strand board. Through its forest tenures and timber licenses, Canfor has 15.1 million cubic metres of annual allowable cut, all of which is CSA-SFM (Canadian Standards Association-Sustainable Forest Management) certified. Canfor is the owner of the world's largest sawmill Plateau located near Vanderhoof, British Columbia with an annual production capacity of 620,000,000 board feet (1,500,000Â m3). Additionally, Canfor's operations in British Columbia include Houston Sawmill, Houston, British Columbia; Isle Pierre, Prince George, Rustad and Polar sawmills in the Prince George region, Fort St. John sawmill, Chetwynd sawmill, Vavenby sawmill, Radium sawmill and Mackenzie sawmill. Mills outside of BC include those in Grande Prairie, Alberta; Sainte-Foy, Quebec; North Carolina and South Carolina. Oriented Strand Board plants are located in Fort Nelson, British Columbia and Fort St John, and a plywood plant is located in Fort Nelson as well. Canfor also owns a remanufacturing plant in Bellingham, Washington and a tree nursery in Prince George.
Canfor formerly owned the Englewood Railway on Vancouver Island, but sold it to Western Forest Products in 2006.
Canfor has 4,690 employees as of March 2011 and is the second-largest producer of dimensional lumber in Canada.
Canfor is a member of the Forest Products Association of Canada.
References
External links
- Canfor Corporation website
- Canfor Careers website
- Canfor Pulp website
