Written by Gordon Hoekstra
Citizen staff
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Wednesday, 07 October 2009 |
The B.C. government's forestry investment fund is increasing by 17 per cent the amount of money it will put up to market wood products in China.
It will increase the amount of money spent in the 2009-2010 fiscal year to $5.06 million. More than $13 million is being spent on marketing activities in China, up from a combined total of $8.6 million the year before.
“This increased funding allows us to pursue some tremendous near-term commercial opportunities - like roof trusses, in-fill walls and partition walls - as we continue to develop longer-term prospects like multi-storey wood-frame construction," said B.C. Forests Minister Pat Bell. "This more comprehensive marketing strategy will help us stay out in front of the competition.”
B.C. softwood lumber exports to China in 2009 have already hit an all-time annual high, 860 million board feet to the end of July, with five more months still to go in the sales year. Lumber exports to China have surpassed those to Japan for the first time ever, making China the number one off-shore market for B.C. in terms of volume. The value of lumber shipments to China, however, continues to lag behind Japan as China is largely taking shipments of low-grade lumber.
British Columbia said it hopes to take recent commercial roofing breakthroughs in Shanghai and transfer that success to other parts of the country such as the Beijing-Tianjin Corridor in northern China and the Sichuan Province in west-central China.
The strategy also calls for training and technology transfer programs with a wider scope, more interaction with mid-size and larger developers and designers, and an expanded government relations presence.
The B.C. Liberal government has focused on opening the Chinese market to its wood products to help diversify its markets. Tradtionally, B.C. has relied heavily on the U.S. market.
However, in the past two years more than 3,500 forest workers have lost their jobs in northern B.C. as companies have shut mills, cut shifts and reduced work weeks.
Companies reacted to a U.S. housing collapse that has been exacerbated by a rising Canadian dollar and a 15 per cent export tax on lumber shipments to the U.S.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 07 October 2009 )
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