Wednesday, December 28, 2011

CellFor Files for Bankruptcy

CellFor, a producer of varietal loblolly pine showing impressive gains in growth, straightness and disease resistance, has filed for bankruptcy in Canada and for protection from creditors in the U.S.

The housing decline has resulted
in a decline in demand for lumber, resulting in a decline in demand for sawtimber stumpage, resulting in a decline in clearcutting, followed by a decline in planting, followed by a decline in seedling demand and ultimately the filing of bankruptcy by Cellfor. And has resulted in a not so Merry Christmas nor Happy New Year for CellFor employees.

About two years ago I did a blog post on the "Future of the Forest Industry" which included a graph of the "Southern Tree Planting Trend". The graph shows that the planting decline actually started in 2002, well before the housing collapse which continued and exaggerated the decline. See that post.

Although the proceeding was filed in Canada, a subsequent ORDER was made on December 22 by a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for protection of creditors. If you would like to see if you are a creditor, you can check here. You will probably recognize some of the names. Another list of employees and vendors can be found here. I know that you will recognize some, or many, of these names. One of the names on this list is Greg Hay, a person that I worked very closely with at The Forest Technology Group. Greg is the only forester that I have ever met that is also a well trained and disciplined sales person and I have a level of respect for him that I have for very few people. If there is a bright spot in all of this, it is that some very good people, and perhaps some technology, is now available. --Brian

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Visit my Timberland Strategies web site here

18 comments:

  1. The Bowra Groups web site has been hacked. Links to it are temporarily dead.

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  2. I tried to go to it as well, Brian, but found I ended up elsewhere. Thank you for sharing your expertise as I am a follower.

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  3. Most foresters today cannot conceive of a forestry without extensive intervention by government. Government run forestry schools, government licensing, government subsidized forest management, government forests, professional societies dominated by the statist mentality (includes ACF), & Etc are the norm.

    There are almost no foresters that do not accept these interventions without question or critical thought.

    The result of government intervention in economic affairs is the bubble economy. In my 38 years as a consulting forester, I have seen at least five bubbles. The signals are always the same. The Federal Reserve and the banking cartel pump more money into the economy than would be demanded in a free market economy (we do not have a free market economy). People take the money printed out-of-thin-air and spend it, thereby bidding up the price of land, commodities, & Etc. When the bubble pops, the malinvesments crash and people go bankrupt. Did CellFor bet on the housing boom continuing? If it listened to Bernanke, it mught have.

    (When I started forestry in 1968, Yellow Pine sawtimber sold for about $9/ton on the stump. That $9 had as much purchasing power as $40+ today. Today in SC, the NIPF would be lucky to get $25/ton.)

    Before this bubble corrects, there may be more forestry concerns in bankruptcy (any TIMOs got their fingers crossed).

    Unfortunately, we are in a professions where the wizards of smart in the forestry schools, forestry bureaucracies, professional societies,
    & Etc. have no clue as to why the bubbles happen.

    Bernanke is already pumping billions of dollars into the economy trying to create e new bubble before we have paid for the excesses of the last bubble. If he is sucessful, it will be business as usual in forestry until the bubble pops again.

    Who will be the next CellFor?

    Travis Cork

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  4. timo foresters have been misleading investors for some time about returns on timberland investment,
    reality is about to set in

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  6. Tree planting is best work. We love our planet.

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  7. Most of forester now do not love forest. They also responsible for losing trees.

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  9. Hi Brian,
    You are really great writer. I am getting late check your most post, these are really wonderful. I am always like about tree planting. You have done a great job. Thanks.

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  10. The overall change in forestry since the housing bubble collapse , is market driven. The market for older trees has collapsed, hence they're not being cut and timberlands grow older. The strong market is for pulpwood, small trees sold for paper and fuel pellets. These timberlands are not allowed to grow to maturity, but are getting high prices for young trees. CEll-for was producing seedlings Designed for a sawtimber market, not a pulpwood market. Jack McIntyre SC

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  11. Well wrote Brian. Just wanted to leave a comment to show appreciation for your article. Thank you

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  13. I always like the people who love our best friends Trees. Your really great that you like Trees. Only the trees who help us without any pay. Thanks.

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  14. CellFor Files for Bankruptcy i agree with this information keep it up

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