Roy O. Martin Lumber operation plans to embark on a multimillion dollar expansion to the Martco plywood plant in Chopin, Louisiana, that will expand its production capacity from just over 400 million ft2/year to 500 million ft 2, reports The Associated Press.

The centrepiece of the US$10m project at the southern yellow pine plywood facility is adding a fifth dryer at a cost of US$6m.

Construction should be finished by early spring 2010 and company officials say the expanded operation should add about 40 jobs to the plant’s work force of 630.