Tembec Delays Harvesting Activities


Temiscaming, Quebec, Canada, 26 May 2008 -– Tembec today announced that it will delay the resumption of harvesting activities to late fall 2008 in the western region of northern Ontario. Today’s decision will temporarily affect approximately 100 unionized and staff employees.

“Relative to present and forecasted market conditions, there is a sufficient supply of logs to meet production requirements. Given the stockpiles already in mill yards and in-bush inventories, we can delay the resumption of bush operations in the northern Ontario west region until November. Normal road construction and road maintenance work as well as reforestation will continue during the summer,” said Mike Martel, vice president, Ontario Division of Tembec’s Forest Products Group. “To minimize the impact on our employees, we intend to start our harvesting early in November for the Gordon Cosens Forest and a few weeks later in the Hearst Forest.”

“This harvesting suspension is another indication of the serious state of lumber market conditions, driven primarily by the dramatic fall in the number of housing starts in the United States and the related impact on lumber demand and pricing. The continued high value of the Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar, as well as high energy and wood costs, further aggravates these conditions,” said Dennis Rounsville, executive vice president and president of Tembec’s Forest Products Group.

Management has met with employees to inform them of the company’s decision.

Tembec is a large, diversified and integrated forest products company that stands as a global leader in sustainable forest management practices. With operations principally located in North America and in France, the company employs approximately 8000 people. Tembec’s common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol TMB and warrants under TMB.WT. Additional information on Tembec is available on its website at www.tembec.com.