Weyerhaeuser closing mills to reduce losses

Weyerhaeuser’s profits are down, according to a recent AP article I plucked from the Seattle-PI. What’s to blame for this forest product producer’s latest downturn? Analysts (in this article) say it is because there is less demand for the company’s products, citing e-documents and foreign production of packaging as the culprit. While I’m not convinced we are really using less paper because of electronic ready documents, and the company itself has a few foreign production facilities - is it that less enviro-friendly products are taking away market share from Weyerhaeuser?

From all initial appearances, Weyerhaeuser seems to have made great efforts to ensure environmentally responsible business practices in its operations, but to increase shareholder value it will close a pulp-mill and sawmill in two small Washington state towns, among other “aggressive” measures to reduce losses, including shutting facilities in seven other U.S. states. Are these communities inevitable casualties of globalization or is there more to it? In my idealistic mind I like to think that the greener a company is the greater its profits will be - is Weyerhaeuser not green enough, or are consumers not yet creating enough demand for products that are?

Additional articles:
http://theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051022/NEWS/510220315
http://theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051216/BUSINESS/51216047