British Columbia has lost more than 30 sawmills since 2017, while at least 21 lumber mills have closed permanently or indefinitely since 2023 alone. Provincial production data show that Interior lumber output had already fallen by roughly half from 2016 levels by 2024, with further closures and extended curtailments continuing through 2025 and 2026. Higher US duties are adding pressure, but the longer decline points to problems with log availability, harvesting and transport costs, weak lumber markets and increasingly difficult mill economics.

Global Wood Markets Info compiled the latest company announcements, provincial records and Canadian forest-sector data to examine how much sawmill capacity British Columbia has lost and what is driving the contraction.