DARLINGTON COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — Monday marked the last day of operation at the Canfor sawmill in Darlington.
The mill announced its closure back in June, and Monday marked the last day of work for more than 120 Darlington employees.
Over a decade ago, Canfor announced its $8 million investment in the Darlington facility for upgrades and increased production, expanding its workforce.
Back in June, Canfor Corporation announced it no longer made sense to continue operations in Darlington because of weak market conditions and sustained financial losses.
The Darlington county economic development director says this mass employment loss will affect many people.
“Clearly a huge impact to Darlington city and Darlington county because these are the livelihoods of these people,” Stephanie Shaw, Darlington county economic development executive director said. “This is their job; this is the way they make a living. So clearly on the workforce side, we’re trying my to partner with all of our workforce development partners to try to place these workers in other places.”
According to the South Carolina department of employment and workforce, in July 2025 Darlington county had 1,600 people unemployed putting the county’s jobless rate at 5.5-percent.
That’s 165 more people unemployed in the county than June’s number.
Since the announcement of Canfor closure, Darlington county leaders have tried helping employees find their next opportunity.
“We’re very sympathetic to the closing of this mill, it’s a huge deal and these families need jobs so we’re just trying to partner with everybody that we can to try to find placements for them,” Shaw said.
Darlington county teamed up with South Carolina Works to host a job fair earlier this month just for Canfor employees.
Nearly 30 employers from across the pee dee showed up offering on-the-spot interviews and information about open positions.
Canfor also announced the Estill mill in Hampton county is also scheduled to close this month.
Around 290 people will be affected by the Canfor closure of both the Estill and Darlington mills.
