Bemidji Lumber Company Temporarily Shuts Doors

Ainsworth Lumber Company is closing its plant in Bemidji for an indefinte period. About 150 people work at the plant which makes oriented strand board. Ainsworth says it will reevaluate the closure in late October. Brue Rose, Ainsworth's Vice President For Corporate Development, said on Wednesday that the drop in housing starts has effectively closed the market for oriented strand board. Chief Executive Robert Allen says they expect "these very difficult conditions" to continue, at least for the near term. Ainsworth's plant in cook was idled in January and company officials said last month that it would remain closed until at least Summer of 2009. The plant once employed 150 workers. Vancover, British Columbia-based Ainswroth announced in August it would permanently shutter its Grand Rapids Plant, which had been "temporarily" closed for nearly two years and once employed about 190 people.

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