CHICAGO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - West Fraser Timber Co Ltd (Toronto:WFT.TO - news), a major Canadian lumber producer, will close eight lumber mills for two weeks beginning Oct. 15 in reaction to a recent drop in lumber prices, the company said on Thursday. ``Our estimate is that we are taking about 63 million board feet out,'' said Joe Heath, the company's general manager for North American lumber sales. Lumber futures prices sped sharply higher on Thursday at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in reaction to the West Fraser action, CME traders said. The CME November lumber contract rose the $10.00 daily limit in early trading to $252.00 per thousand board feet. ``It is a significant curtailment. They are not making money at these (price) levels,'' said Neil Schmaedick, forest products analyst with Salomon Smith Barney. ``It will tighten the supply up a little bit.'' Six of the closed mills are in British Columbia and two are in Alberta. Not included in the shutdown is a West Fraser mill in British Columbia that is already closed for renovation and a small mill that will continue to operate in Alberta, Heath said. Production cutbacks had been expected by lumber analysts because a slowdown in lumber sales has caused inventories to swell and forced saw mills and lumber yards to cut prices. On Wednesday, spruce lumber, which is commonly used in home construction, was quoted at $235 per thousand board feet, down $30 from a week ago and down $64 from a month ago, according to Random Lengths, a publication that tracks lumber prices.