8-K

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                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM 8-K




CURRENT REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES
EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

DATE OF REPORT -- AUGUST 23, 1999




                          COMMISSION FILE NUMBER 1-6780


                                  RAYONIER INC.



                   Incorporated in the State of North Carolina
                I.R.S. Employer Identification Number l3-2607329


              l177 Summer Street, Stamford, Connecticut 06905-5529
                          (Principal Executive Office)

                        Telephone Number: (203) 348-7000



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                                  RAYONIER INC.

                                TABLE OF CONTENTS



                                                                          PAGE


Item 5.      Other Events                                                   1

Item 7.      Financial Statements and Exhibits                              1

             Signature                                                      1

             Exhibit Index                                                  2


                                       i
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ITEM 5.  OTHER EVENTS

Incorporated by reference is a news release issued by the Registrant on August
23, 1999, attached as Exhibit 99.




ITEM 7.  FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND EXHIBITS

         (c)  See Exhibit Index







                                    SIGNATURE


         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of l934,
         the registrant has duly caused this Report to be signed on its behalf
         by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.


                                                  RAYONIER INC.  (Registrant)


                                                  BY    George C. Kay
                                                        George C. Kay
                                                        Vice President and
                                                        Corporate Controller
August 27, 1999






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                                  EXHIBIT INDEX



EXHIBIT NO.              DESCRIPTION                        LOCATION
- -----------              -----------                        --------


    99                   News Release issued                Filed herewith
                         August 23, 1999

















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EX-99

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RAYONIER                                                            News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    For further information
                                         Media Contact:         Martin H. Arnold
                                                                203-964-4621
                                         Investor Contact:      John A. Doumlele
                                                                203-964-4486

                   RAYONIER TO RELOCATE CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS

         STAMFORD, CT, August 23, 1999 -- Rayonier announced today it will
relocate its corporate headquarters from Stamford, CT to either Jacksonville, FL
or Savannah, GA, as of January 2000 and will downsize its corporate staff by
about 25 percent.

         The company said it would achieve administrative and operational
synergies and cost savings by moving to the Southeast U.S. where it has a
significant majority of its employees and assets. Rayonier has 85 employees in
Stamford.

         "There are numerous economic, organizational and strategic advantages
to being located near our asset base in the Southeast U.S.," said Lee Nutter,
Chairman, President and CEO. "This will enable us to be more responsive to
changing business conditions, improve the company's market positions, and
strengthen financial performance."

         The company said the location of its new headquarters would depend, in
part, on economic incentives available in the two cities. Rayonier has been
headquartered in Stamford since 1979. Prior to that it was in New York City for
35 years.

         Both Jacksonville and Savannah are near the company's two pulp mills,
three lumber mills, 846,000 acres of timberlands in the Southeast, and the
980,000 acres it will purchase from Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., a transaction
expected to close early in the fourth quarter. The company said that it had been
planning to relocate prior to the Smurfit acquisition but the transaction made
the logic of the move even more apparent. Rayonier also has timberlands and
operations in New Zealand and the Northwest U.S.

         Following the completion of the Smurfit acquisition, Rayonier will have
more than 80 percent of its 2,300 employees and approximately 75 percent of its
$2.3 billion in assets in the Southeast U.S.




          Rayonier Inc. - 1177 Summer Street - Stamford, CT 06905-5529
                 Telephone (203) 348-7000 - Fax (203) 964-4528
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         Rayonier said that it expects the relocation will result in one-time
after-tax costs of $6.3 million, of which approximately $2.4 million, or 9 cents
per share, will be booked in the fourth quarter. Despite the charge, the company
said that improving market conditions should allow it to meet current First Call
fourth-quarter consensus estimates, as adjusted for the Smurfit timberland
acquisition.

         Rayonier was founded in 1926 in Washington state and is a global
supplier of timber, specialty pulps, and wood products with sales of $1 billion
to customers in 60 countries. It currently owns or manages 1.5 million acres of
timberlands in the U.S. and New Zealand. Upon the close of the Smurfit-Stone
timberlands' acquisition Rayonier will have a total of 2.5 million acres
worldwide and be the seventh largest private timber owner in the U.S.

         Comments about anticipated costs, earnings and market trends are
forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Changes in the following
important factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially
from those expressed in the forward-looking statements: fluctuations in demand
for the Company's products; actual costs of relocation varying significantly
from cost estimates; failure of one or more conditions to closing the
acquisition of the Smurfit-Stone timberlands to be satisfied; and other factors
listed in the Company's Form 10-Q for the second quarter of 1999 as filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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