LP curtails OSB production at five additional mills

Oct 19, 2006. /Lesprom Network/. Louisiana-Pacific Corporation announced on October 19 it will curtail oriented strand board (OSB) operations at five North American mills due to very low product demand and pricing across North America. With these curtailments, a total of 240-250 mill down days are planned in the fourth quarter across the LP OSB system, due to market factors and to accommodate capital projects, maintenance and the holidays. Jeff Wagner, executive vice president, OSB, said, "In the last two quarters, OSB demand has fallen, with pricing dropping below cost at some of our mills. We cannot continue to operate our mills at full production across the system when the cost of manufacturing OSB exceeds the product's market value. "When we make these difficult curtailment decisions, our first consideration is meeting our customers' needs across geographical areas," Wagner continued. "We are confident that our operating mills will, at minimum, be able to serve our contract customer demand for OSB commodity and value-added products during the fourth quarter." Effective immediately, LP's Silsbee, Texas, OSB mill will curtail production (two weeks). On Monday, October 23, the Carthage, Texas, OSB facility will curtail production (one week). In November, the Maniwaki, Quebec; Athens, Georgia; and Hayward, Wisconsin, mills will curtail OSB production; Hayward's LP SmartSide(R) siding line will continue to operate. LP previously announced the indefinite closure of its St. Michel, Quebec, OSB mill, which is included in the fourth quarter estimate of 240-250 down days. LP, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, is a premier supplier of building products, manufacturing innovative, high-quality commodity and specialty products to its retail, wholesale, homebuilding and industrial customers. LP operates 13 OSB mills in North America.