Executives at Vancouver’s International WOOD Markets Group (IWMG) plan to reveal a study later this week that shows Chinese sawmills are six times more cost efficient than those in British Columbia.
That could cause future closures in B.C., according to IWMG president Russ Taylor.
“They’re outbidding U.S. western mills for logs,” Taylor told Business in Vancouver August 12. “That’s shutting down part of the sawmilling industry. I’d be worried about a low-cost producer that’s buying logs and taking them away and shutting down mills.”
Along with the China Timber Distribution Association, Taylor’s consulting company is cosponsoring a September 12-16 logging and lumber conference in China that will appeal to both owners of sawmills who are watching raw logs go to China, and North American raw log exporters looking for business.
Canadian National Railway (CN) announced last week that it had an agreement with China’s largest lumber buyer, CNBM Forest Products Trading Ltd., to boost Canadian lumber exports to China. (See "CN to boost lumber shipments" – BIV Business Today, August 12.)
China is the top export nation for B.C. lumber.
Lumber, cedar shakes and shingles, plywood, veneer and logs have been a real driver for B.C. export growth to China in the past decade. That category’s exports has grown to $362 million in 2009 from $15 million in 2000.
Japan, in contrast, has more than halved the amount of wood products that it imports from B.C.
In 2000, Japan imported $2.13 billion worth of B.C. wood products. That shrunk to $763 million in 2009.
Glen Korstrom
Twitter: GlenKorstrom