Etheridge, Other Officials Tour Moncure Plywood

Congressman Bob Etheridge, NC State Senator Bob Atwater and local officials toured the Moncure
Plywood plant on Monday morning…[and the focus was] on the company developing community support and the economics of selling plywood.

“Successful plywood mills come with successful communities and community support,” said Dick
Baldwin, a vice president at Wood Resources, an umbrella company that includes Moncure Plywood
and three other mills. “Housing starts are one quarter of what they were two years ago,” he said. “About a quarter of the 60 plywood mills have undergone indefinite shutdowns.”

But Moncure Plywood, which employs about 130 workers, is still busy and getting busier…Jeff
Matuszak, sales manager at the plant, said that the company no longer makes plywood only for the
furniture market. “We’ve now diversified into industrial, concrete panels used in bridge construction,” he said, “The stimulus package includes a lot of funds for bridge construction. We are poised to succeed.” He said the company is also making strides towards becoming greener.

After the tour, Etheridge said he was impressed. “You get an appreciation of what you can turn a log in
to,” he said. “They have been able to adapt their business to succeed in these tough economic times. It
was a great lesson in adaptability. Their new product line for furniture was interesting.”

This article was written by Bill Willcox and published by the Chatham News located in Siler City, North Carolina.