*as of January 30, 2015
Canadian Forest Products Ltd. (Canfor) is a leading Canadian integrated forest products company based in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), involved primarily in the lumber business, with production facilities in Canada (British Columbia and Alberta) and the United States (North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi) and forest operations in British Columbia and Alberta.
Canfor Corporation holds a 50.5% interest in Canfor Pulp Products Inc. (Canfor Pulp), which is based in Vancouver, BC, and is a leading global producer of pulp, paper and green energy. Canfor Pulp owns and operates three pulp mills in Prince George, BC, which are among the lowest-cost NBSK pulp producers in Canada. Canfor sold a chemi-thermo-mechanical facility in Taylor, BC, to Canfor Pulp in early 2015.
Canfor Pulp’s three mills in Prince George have a production capacity of more than one million tonnes of northern softwood market kraft pulp, 90% of which is bleached to become northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp. It is the world’s fourth-largest producer of market NBSK. Its facility in Taylor has an annual capacity of 220,000 tonnes of bleached chemi-thermo-mechanical pulp.
Canfor Pulp’s specialty paper group produces about 140,000 tonnes of kraft paper from a forest resource with high-strength, fine northern fibres that bond better than almost any other fibres in the world. We have bleached, unbleached and coloured grades.
At the end of December 2014, Canfor Corporation directly employed 5,313 people. This does not include employees who will join the company upon the close of announced acquisitions.
Canfor’s lumber operations have a current annual production capacity of approximately 5.6 billion board feet of lumber. This includes 100% of the volume of three companies being acquired through phased acquisitions – Scotch Gulf Lumber, Beadles Lumber Company and Balfour Lumber Company. It does not include volume from our acquisition of Southern Lumber Company, which is expected to close in early 2015, or our Quesnel sawmill, which closed permanently in 2014.
A significant proportion of our lumber production comprises specialty products that command premium prices, including Square Edge lumber for the North American market, J‑Grade lumber for the Japanese market, and machine stress-rated lumber used in engineered applications such as roof trusses and floor joists.
Canfor holds approximately 15.6 million cubic metres of annual harvesting rights for its solid wood operations under various forest tenures located in the interior region of British Columbia and in northern Alberta, and we harvest logs from those tenures to supply our interior lumber operations. Any shortfalls in mill requirements are made up with wood purchased from those areas. Our operations in the United States mostly purchase logs from private land holdings.
Canfor’s lumber facilities produce wood chips as a byproduct, and sell these to pulp mills, including Canfor Pulp mills. We also harvest pulpwood – logs unsuitable for the production of lumber – from our northern forestry operations, and convert this to chips, which are sold to Canfor Pulp and other pulp producers.
Both Canfor and Canfor Pulp companies were among BC Business top 100 companies in BC in 2014 – Canfor placed #13 and Canfor Pulp #43. We also made the list of BC's top employers for 2015 for our competitive benefits and compensation and our commitment to growth from within, among other things.
Canfor and Canfor Pulp are committed to research and development related to forest management, fibre analysis, manufacturing processes, quality control, and product and building systems development. We are active members of key industry research and development organizations, and maintain connections to developments in industry research and technical information through our relationships with various associations, universities, research institutes, suppliers and customers. Canfor Pulp operates a dedicated "open innovation" centre in Vancouver.
Canfor and Canfor Pulp maintain an ethical and responsible approach to all business actions, and support a culture of integrity throughout the organizations and in their relationships with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. Employees are encouraged, and in some cases required, to report any concerns about violations to the Code of Conduct or Corporate Disclosure Policy. The Whistleblowing Policy states that the company will not take or allow any reprisal against an employee who reports violations in good faith.
The core values of both companies are safety, quality, sustainability and profitability. We work with diverse stakeholders to develop and deliver a vision for sustainable forest management so we can produce the truly responsible products our customers rely on.