Devon Lumber in Fredericton has wood chips piled 2 storeys high and no buyers

Harry Gill, president of Devon Lumber Company in Fredericton, New Brunswick, said he has no market for his wood chips now that so many pulp mills are shut down in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine, and Quebec.

Right now, wood chips are piled 2 storeys high outside of the Devon Lumber mill.

Wood chips were once a valuable commodity, and without that market, Gill said he is having a difficult time staying in business.

Gill said of the recommendations on the table for the oversupply of wood chips is to leave more of the pulp wood in the woods to rot.

“That will open up some markets as far as being able to sell the byproducts off of saw logs, which come from the sawmills, ” Gill said. “If we don’t sell the chips, there’s going to be less and less mills.”

Gill said the part of his mill that produces softwood lumber and chips for pulp has only run 1.5 days in the last 3 weeks because the chips were making the difference between profit and breaking even.

There are currently 35 sawmills in New Brunswick.  Except for the sawmills owned by pulp mill companies, the other mills are likely experiencing a similar difficulty finding buyers for their chips.