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Business & Industry
Manufacturing and tourism are
Haywood County's major industries, followed by
agriculture and the service industry.
Blue Ridge Paper Products, with a
large paper manufacturing mill in Canton and a
smaller finishing operation in Waynesville, provides
employment for approximately 1,000 people. The
Canton mill is constantly modernizing to move it to
the forefront of paper-making technology.
Following national trends,
Haywood County also is successfully moving toward
attracting smaller industries the employ 50 to 200
people. Examples include:
Wellco Enterprises
produces boots for the military. Its 47 employees
made combat boots for personnel involved in
Operation Desert Storm.
Associated Packaging
Technologies, which employs about 120 people, is one
of the nation’s largest producers of plastic food
trays.
Further diversification is
evident in the variety of products manufactured by
other industries: Epsom salt, textile labels, wood
products, surgical drapes, specialty glass products
and audiovisual equipment.
The natural beauty of the area,
mild year round climate, easy accessibility by major
highways, and the nearby Asheville Regional Airport
have attracted many visitors to the area, making
tourism the county's second largest industry.
While the number of people
working farms has declined, agriculture still is a
strong part of the county's overall economy. Beef
and dairy cattle, sheep, swine, and the growing
of tomatoes and apples are major agricultural
thrusts.
The service industry also has
become an ever-growing segment of the local economy.
More information on Economic
Statistics can be found here.
Haywood County Economic Indicators –
2007
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