TSX: WEF
DUNCAN, BC, Aug. 19 /CNW/ - Western Forest Products Inc. ("Western" or
the "Company") announces, as a follow up on the comments made regarding
softwood lumber duties during its conference call on August 15, 2005 and in
response to questions it subsequently received regarding its changed
circumstances application, that the Company has, as anticipated, received a
positive ruling from the US Department of Commerce confirming that for
softwood lumber anti-dumping deposit purposes the Company is entitled to use
the "all others rate" of 3.78% until the next determination of the "all others
rate". As noted in the Company's Second Quarter Report, a favourable
preliminary ruling had been previously issued. This decision is the final
ruling referred to in that report. The ruling is effective immediately and
means the Company will post the lower 3.78% anti-dumping rate on its shipments
of lumber into the United States instead of the higher rate it has been paying
since April 26, 2005 of 11.54%.
About Western:
Western is an integrated Canadian forest products company and the second
largest coastal woodland operator in British Columbia. Principal activities
conducted by Western and its subsidiaries include timber harvesting,
reforestation, sawmilling logs into lumber and wood chips, value-added
remanufacturing and producing NBSK pulp. Over 95% of Western's logging is
conducted on government owned timberlands in British Columbia. All of
Western's operations, employees and corporate facilities are located in the
coastal region of British Columbia and its products are sold in 25 to 30
countries worldwide.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains statements that are forward-looking in
nature. Those statements appear in a number of places herein and include
statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Western,
primarily with respect to market and general economic conditions, future
costs, expenditures, available harvest levels and future operating performance
of Western. Such statements may be indicated by words such as "estimate",
"expect", "anticipate", "plan", "intend", "believe", "will", "should", "may"
and similar words and phrases. Readers are cautioned that any such
forward-looking statements are not guarantees and may involve known and
unknown risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ from those
expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements as a result of various
factors, including general economic and business conditions, product selling
prices, raw material and operating costs, changes in foreign-currency exchange
rates, changes in government regulation, fluctuations in demand and supply for
Western's products, industry production levels, the ability of Western to
execute its business plan and misjudgements in the course of preparing
forward-looking statements. The information contained under the "Risk Factors"
section of Western's Annual Information Form and under the "Risk Factors"
section of Western's Form 20-F/A identifies important factors that could cause
such differences. All written and oral forward-looking statements attributable
to Western or persons acting on behalf of Western are expressly qualified in
their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. Western does not expect
to update forward-looking statements as conditions change.
