The shock closure of a sawmill in south-east Victoria has put 73 workers out of a job and left the local community devastated.

Staff at the Associated Kiln Driers (AKD) sawmill at Yarram, in Gippsland, yesterday learnt the site was closing just weeks before Christmas.

AKD is the country's biggest softwood producer and has a total Australian workforce of 1000 people.

But the Gippsland sawmill has been hit hard by a slowdown in the construction sector and increased operating costs, the company's chief executive Shane Vicary said.

"To remain a sustainable and competitive Australian business, we are adapting to market conditions, simplifying our operations and strengthening the core business at our four major sawmilling sites, which continue to produce the full suite of structural softwoo

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