Governor John Bel Edwards and Canadian-based Canfor Corporation announce a new 160 million dollar lumber mill will be built in Beauregard Parish near DeRidder. Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson said the mill is expected to create 130 new direct jobs with an average salary of nearly 60-thousand dollars and also 386 new indirect jobs.
“Everybody from working in harvesting the wood to transporting the lumber, all the mechanics and cafes along the way; really important opportunity for us,” Pierson said.
Canfor will locate the facility at the Beauregard Regional Airport and start-up is expected to begin late in the third quarter of next year. Pierson said the availability of roads and waterways to supply the product helped Beauregard parish secure the contract.
“You have to check a lot of boxes but we had a certified site available at the Beauregard regional airport with a lot of the homework done well in advance,” Pierson said.
LED says the state also offered a competitive incentive package that included a performance-based grant of one-point-five million dollars.
The sawmill project will process yellow pine from Louisiana forests with the manufacturing capacity to produce a variety of wood products. Pierson said the location will help pulp and paper production companies in the area.
“They can sell off the waste elements of this. We often pelletize some of this from the forest floor as well these days,” Pierson said.
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