PLAIN DEALING, La. (AP) — A Canadian forestry products company has begun work on a $110 million sawmill in northwest Louisiana, officials said Monday.
The Teal Jones Group bought sawmills in Antlers, Oklahoma; Kinsale and Martinsville, Virginia; and Liberty, Mississippi, between 2013 and 2021, but this will be the first it has built in the United States, a spokesman said in an email Monday.
The sawmill near Plain Dealing will employ 125 people and produce up to 300 million board feet (91.4 million board meters) per year of Southern yellow pine, said the statement from Gov. John Bel Edwards and Louisiana Economic Development.
The town has nearly 900 residents, according to the Census Bureau.
Officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday. If everything goes smoothly, the mill could be open by the end of 2023, a Teal Jones spokesman said.
The company is headquartered in Surrey, British Columbia
Louisiana offered incentives including its Quality Jobs program, which provides up to a 6% rebate on annual payroll for up to 10 years. It also allows either a state tax rebate on capital expense or a 1.5% project facility expense rebate for qualifying expenses. Teal Jones also is expected to ask for local tax breaks.
