| The timbering industry is in the pits.
Sawmill operators are telling state Forester Randy Dye these are some of the worst times in recent memory for the state's $4 billion timber business, according to Justin Anderson in the Charleston Daily Mail.
Certified loggers in the state declined from 1,141 in 2004 to 932 this year.
Most loggers have shifted to other ways of making a living.
An earlier Herald article indicated the downturn was the decline in the housing market and imports coming into the US.
Even the furniture-making hot spot in North Carolina has now shifted to China, with most of those manufacturing plants closed.
Dye said their is little "profitability in shipping our lumber to export markets."
New housing starts have been at their lowest point in a decade.
The sawmills that are surviving the downturn in the wood market are those that have modernized, Dye said, it's the inefficient, smaller sawmills that are closing.
Nevertheless, those sawmills that are investing in modern equipment are having trouble finding people who can run it, Dye said.
He said some sawmills are still making money because of strong demand for paper and railroad ties.
See WV LOGGING HIT HARD BY FOREIGN MARKETS - Loggers And Sawmill Operators Barely Hanging On,/B>
BIG OTTER MILL VICTIM OF GLOBAL MARKET-HOUSING SLUMP
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