151 Sawmills Have Closed Since 2023, Hardwood Review Says

Hardwood Review has identified 151 publicly announced sawmill and yard closures since 2023.

The firm disclosed the figure at the 2026 National Hardwood Lumber Association convention. The Decorative Hardwoods Association reported the count from the event, held October 16, 2026, in Sterling, Virginia.

The number covers closures announced since 2023. It counts both sawmills — facilities that cut logs into lumber — and yards, the storage and distribution points in the hardwood supply chain.

What does this change for flooring?

The closures sit at the base of the supply chain, and their effects move upstream. The Decorative Hardwoods Association states the closures "impact users of hardwood lumber farther up the supply chain, including hardwood flooring manufacturers."

That puts flooring producers first in line for the consequences. Fewer operating mills means fewer sources of raw hardwood lumber. Fewer yards means fewer distribution nodes between the mill and the manufacturer.

For architects, designers, and contractors specifying hardwood flooring, the practical questions follow directly:

• Will reduced mill capacity tighten availability of specific hardwood species?
• Will flooring manufacturers pass supply pressure through as price increases?
• Will lead times stretch as buyers compete for output from fewer facilities?

The source data does not quantify those outcomes. The closure count itself — 151 facilities over roughly three years — is the hard number on the table.

A supply chain under consolidation

The Hardwood Review tally counts only publicly announced closures. Facilities that shut quietly, or consolidated without a public announcement, don't appear in the figure. The actual contraction in North American hardwood milling capacity may run higher than 151.

The announcement came at the NHLA convention, the annual gathering of the National Hardwood Lumber Association — the industry body for hardwood producers. That venue matters. A closure count presented there signals that mill attrition has become a central industry concern, not a background statistic.

For the flooring sector, the figure lands as a supply-side warning. Manufacturers who source hardwood lumber will watch whether the closure pace continues past 2026 — and whether reduced upstream capacity starts showing up in flooring prices, species availability, and delivery schedules in the year ahead.