TSX: WEF DUNCAN, BC, Nov. 24 /CNW/ - Western Forest Products Inc. (TSX: WEF) today announced that it has received US$109.6 million with respect to the refund of softwood lumber countervail and anti-dumping duty deposits made to U.S. Customs since May 2002. The refund represents substantially all of the Company's entitlement under the new Canada/U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement. The Company received the funds from Export Development Canada using the mechanism established under the Softwood Lumber Agreement. Reynold Hert, President and CEO commented, "The receipt of these funds permits us to strengthen our balance sheet and reduce our debt service cost by paying down US$88.0 million of our long-term debt. We will retain the balance of US$21.6 million for working capital purposes as permitted under our debt agreement while we review options that may enable us to pay down further debt while maintaining liquidity." Western Forest Products Western is an integrated Canadian forest products company and the largest coastal British Columbia woodland operator and lumber producer with an Annual Allowable Cut of approximately 7.7 million cubic meters (before temporary AAC reductions) of timber and lumber capacity in excess of 1.5 billion board feet from nine sawmills and five remanufacturing plants. Principal activities conducted by the Company and its subsidiaries include timber harvesting, reforestation, sawmilling logs into lumber and wood chips, and value-added remanufacturing. Substantially all 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 while its products are sold in over 20 countries worldwide. Forward Looking Statements and Information This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities law. Those statements and information include statements or information regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Western and its use of the proceeds of the refund from the softwood lumber countervail and anti-dumping duty deposits made to U.S. Customs. Such statements or information may be indicated by words such as "approximately", "will", "may" and similar words and phrases. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements or information are not guarantees and may involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and that the actual results may differ from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements or information as a result of various factors including, changes in government regulation, and misjudgments in the course of preparing forward-looking statements or information. The information contained under the "Risk Factors" section of Western's Annual Information Form and under the "Risks and Uncertainties" section of Western's Management's Discussion and Analysis identifies important factors that could cause such differences. All written and oral forward-looking statements or information 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 or information as conditions change.