British Columbia is already shipping products like lumber, pulp and coal to the growing Asian economy, which includes China Japan and South Korea.

Because of Asia's hunger for scarce natural resources and British Columbia's close proximity to the region, there are excellent business opportunities for the province, speakers told the eighth annual B.C. Natural Resource Forum Wednesday.

But the province, and particularly Northern B.C., should look beyond simply shipping its natural resources to Asia, finding ways to extract more value from those resources, said ACDEG Group of Companies chair and CEO David Fung.

For instance, why not go to China and build mills to produce wood panels from British Columbia lumber, said Fung. Instead of getting $1 for your product, you could take a share of the $40 the wood panel is sold for in Germany, he said.

"Should we not look at that," Fung challenged the close to 200 business, community and First Nation leaders at the Civic Centre.

Fung argued it's important to do this because the growing Asian market is real and sustainable. He threw out a barrage of facts, saying, for example, nine of the world's top 10 container ports are in Asia, the largest foreign reserves are in Asian countries, and 500,000 engineers graduate each year in China, far outstripping the 180,000 engineers in Canada.

Fung said the province has to leverage its abundant natural resources through innovation, using research and education.

He said he saw no reason why Vancouver-based Forintek -- an industry-government forestry research agency -- should not be moved to UNBC in Prince George.

L.J. Resources Ltd. president Jim Jia pointed to the economic potential in the urbanization of China's population forecast to reach more than 920 million by 2025, up from 550 million in 2005

That's 20 million to 30 million people moving to cities each year, he said, which is helping to create a burgeoning middle class, seeking goods that can be fed by natural resources from British Columbia.

L.J. Resources has already invested in new forest player Conifex in Northern B.C. with sawmills in Fort St. James and Mackenzie. The company has also contracted with Canfor Corp.'s Quesnel sawmill to sell all of its lumber into China. That lumber is being used in concrete forming and as stripping to back drywall and flooring in concrete buildings. It is also being used in wood panels, decorative finishing, furniture manufacturing and to construct buildings.

Pointing to a forecast of 10 per cent annual economic growth in China, Jia said as long as the country is building, there will be a growing appetite for B.C. wood.

Japan's Consul General in Vancouver, Hideki Ito, reminded the forum that Japan has been a long-time significant trading partner with British Columbia in areas like coal, pulp and lumber. While the volume of lumber shipped to China now exceeds that in Japan, the value of the high-quality lumber shipped to Japan is still greater, noted Hideki.

Ito said there is also an opportunity for Japan and British Columbia to partner on ventures in Asia.

Korea's Consul General Yeon-Ho Choi told the forum Korea's growing industrial and hi-tech economy is hungry for British Columbia's natural resources.

Choi noted that Korea already has investments in coal in B.C.'s southern Interior, and in natural gas in the northeast. The Korea Gas Corp. has also signed an agreement to invest in the multi-billion proposed liquified natural gas terminal in Kitimat. As part of the agreement, the company would take 40 per cent of the terminal's supply.

Choi said Korea is not only interested in purchasing resources, but in investing in developing those resources in British Columbia.

The natural resource forum at the Civic Centre continues today.