04:16 PM EDT, 03/27/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Conifex Timber ( CFXTF ) on Wednesday said its fourth-quarter loss widened as despite rising revenue.

The forest-products company said it lost C$5.3 million, or C$0.14 per share, in the period, compared with a loss of C$0.2 million, or nil, in the year-prior quarter.

Revenue rose 32% to C$35.2 million from C$26.7 million.

The company said the loss widened as it moved its mills to a single shift for 12 weeks beginning in October "to address unsustainable lumber inventory levels" as US new home construction fell.

"North American lumber market prices continued to be below breakeven in the fourth quarter of 2023 ... The ongoing period of lower market prices were attributed to lower demand from reduced new home construction activity in the US, elevated offshore lumber import levels to US markets, and inflationary pressures negatively impacting repair and remodeling activities," the company noted.

Conifex said it believes industry lumber inventories are now dropping and expects prices to rise, as British Columbia lumber production fell to 27-million cubic meters in 2023, down from 47-million five years earlier, with provincial forecasts expect a harvest of 26-million cubic meters this year.

"This harvest contraction will reduce SPF lumber production from the interior region of BC by 4.8 or 4.9 billion board feet annually. This supply contraction is huge - it is equivalent to approximately 8% of North American softwood lumber consumption and sufficient to offset the incremental lumber supply from more than 20 new industrial scale sawmills brought on stream in the US South over the past five year," it noted.

Conifex shares closed down C$0.01 to C$0.61 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.