Canfor Corp. posted a $32.3 million profit in the first three months of this year, down from the previous quarter.
The positive result was helped by continued shipments to China, offsetting the impact of a slow U.S. housing economy.
"We continue to believe the road to recovery for the U.S. housing market is likely to be a long one, but we are clearly seeing the benefits of the work we have done in developing our Asian markets, particularly China," said Canfor president and CEO Jim Shepard.
Canfor -- which has extensive operations in northern B.C. -- has sales of $283 million. The company shipped 865 million board feet, down three per cent from the previous quarter, largely because of sever winter conditions that impacted transportation.
Shipments to China represented 23 per cent of the company's total, down slightly from 26 per cent the previous quarter.
Canfor re-opened its Quesnel sawmill last summer specifically to serve the Chinese market.
Canfor, and other B.C. lumber companies, have been trying to grow their market in China.
China, a country of 1.4 billion, builds many more housing units than in the United States, north-central B.C.'s traditional market, but most are in concrete and steel.
The Chinese government recently announced its new five-year plan calls for an additional 36 million affordable housing units, 10 million each in 2011 and 2012. Combined with China's annual building rate of 10 million housing units, it puts the country on track for 86 million units in the next five years.
Following a housing collapse, the U.S. is now building less than 600,000 units a year.
Canfor said it also rolling out its renewed three-year, $300-million capital spending plan. Its Fort St. John sawmill rebuild should be completed by the mid-point of the year.
Canfor has four sawmills in the Prince George area, one of which remains indefinitely shut down, as well as sawmills in Houston, Vanderhoof, Mackenzie and Chetwynd. The sawmills employ more than 1,500 people.
