Forestry Minister Steve Thomson began a week-long forestry trade mission to increase awareness of British Columbia’s forestry and wood products in Asia by speaking to the Japanese Lumber Council and touring a panel plant on October 18.
The minister, who is traveling with several representatives from the province’s forestry and wood products industries, will tour Japan over the weekend and leave for China October 21, returning to Canada October 26.
Thomson told the Japanese Lumber Council, which is an industry-based association representing organizations in the residential and non-residential construction sectors, that B.C. has enough timber to meet Japan’s growing needs, despite the mountain pine beetle infestation.
The minister also made a stop at a 4,700-square-metre wood nursing home under construction near Tokyo. Japan has an increasing demand for nursing homes, and the country’s Wood First law requires the use of wood in public buildings. The provincial government estimates that the lumber demand for the construction of the elderly-care facilities Japan needs would be 2.9 million cubic metres of lumber. In 2012, total B.C. exports of lumber to Japan was under 2.0 million cubic metres.
Japanese lumber buyers purchase only the highest-quality wood, which is what is produced by B.C. mills. Japan and China are the biggest markets for B.C. softwood lumber products after the United States.
Softwood exports to Japan are on the rise; as of August 2013, exports for the year so far totaled $545 million – a 36% increase over the same period in 2012.
@EmmaCrawfordBIV
