International Forest Products Ltd. (TSX:IFP) reported a net loss of $1.6 million for its third quarter ending September 30 compared with net earnings of $1.6 million a year ago.
Third-quarter sales fell 35% to $135.5 million compared with $209.2 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the earnings slide and Interfor's lowest sales in recent memory resulted from the combination of a depressed North American market for structural lumber, a dollar reaching a 33-year high and a 15% export tax. The strike that affected the company's coastal manufacturing operations also had a negative impact on quarterly results.
With lumber demand continuing to drop because of the ailing new home construction market in the U.S., average lumber prices for the quarter were 7.5% lower than they were a year ago. They fell to $476 per thousand board feet from $515. Lumber sales also dropped 34% to 196 million from 299 million board feet.
With the downturn in the U.S. housing market expected to extend well into 2008, Interfor expects no significant improvements in the short term. Prices for most forest products are expected to stay relatively low.
Interfor's share price range during the past week: between $7.10 and $7.25; 52-week high: $9.84; 52-week low: $6.15.