Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA
Citizen staff
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Tuesday, 18 November 2008 |
Canfor Corp. president and CEO Jim Shepard says a trade mission to China is confirming the country offers the potential for a new lumber market for B.C. that could take the pressure off the U.S.
To realize this potential, however, will take the concentrated focus of industry with government-to-government support from British Columbia, added Shepard, one of several senior executives on the trip.
Canfor was among six B.C. forest products companies -- including Northern Interior B.C. lumber producers West Fraser and Tolko -- that secured new orders on the Chinese trade mission led by Forests Minister Pat Bell.
The new orders of 83 million board feet in lumber push the amount of exports to China this year at least over the 600 million board foot mark, more than last year's high of 493 million board feet.
Bell, who has been pushing lumber trade to China as a key to diversifying markets for B.C., was hoping the province would hit the one billion foot lumber-mark this year.
The one-billion level would account for about six per cent of B.C.'s annual lumber production during the past decade. Bell is focusing efforts on developing the Chinese market after a collapse in the U.S. housing market., B.C.'s chief export lumber market, which takes as much as 80 per cent of the B.C. Northern Interior's production.
So far, the bulk of lumber shipments to China have been low-grade lumber used for concrete forming and in secondary manufacturing. But the province has been trying to develop markets for higher-grade lumber, including for use in low-rise apartments, the mainstay housing for major cities like Shanghai.
During the trip, which ended Tuesday, the province said it had made a breakthrough with three commercial projects providing new roofs to 38 apartment buildings in Shanghai.
The Chinese government recently issued a call to upgrade the country’s older multi-storied, multi-family houses by 2010 in an effort to increase energy efficiency and improve the lifestyles of their residents. An estimated 10,000 buildings will be renovated in Shanghai over the next two years - representing a market opportunity for up to 94.9 million board feet of lumber if all 10,000 building were to use wood truss system.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 November 2008 )
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