Dec 24, 2009. /Lesprom Network/. Wood chip mills across Tasmania are facing closures over Christmas, with plummeting international demand for their product, as ABC Online reported. With wood chips piled up at wharves around the state, mills at Triabunna, Launceston and Burnie are set to close for Christmas. The closures are planned to last for up to six weeks but the Forest Industries Association chief executive Terry Edwards says with no ships scheduled to pick up wood chips, mills could be shut for longer. "Each of those closures is because we have significant stockpiles and no market to send the chips to at this stage," he said. Mr Edwards says companies are facing significant pressures to find reliable markets. "There's a number of issues that are besetting the forest sector at the moment, not the least of which is the slowdown in our overseas markets for woodchips, which has meant woodchip companies are suffering and there'll be downturns in that area in the form of short term closures," he said. Many forestry businesses are struggling to survive, with the international downturn in the woodchip market also causing less demand for seedlings and timber. A nursery in Tasmania's north east will have to dump 200,000 seedlings, as the effects of a plummeting demand for woodchips hit forestry businesses. The seedlings were destined for one of the nursery's major customers, managed investment scheme Great Southern, which went into receivership in May. Nursery owner Tony Waites says his production will drop by about 60% or 70%. "We've tried all sorts of avenues; First of all we tried to see if we could sell them to someone else, then we tried to give them away," he said. "200,000 seedlings is about 200 hectares worth of seedlings so it's a huge logistical thing to do." Mr Waites says throwing the seedlings out will mean a loss of $40,000. "Basically they haven't got a home and we're just in the process now of saying to throw them out, so we'll be composting them and they'll just be going into landfill."