British Columbia lumber shipments to China reached a new plateau in 2010, hitting 2.8 billion board feet and a value of $687 million, supplanting Japan as the province's No. 2 export destination.
The lumber shipped to China is equal to the production of about one dozen sawmills. The growing Chinese market has helped restart plants in north-central B.C. still suffering the impacts of a U.S. housing collapse. For example, Canfor Corp. re-opened its Quesnel sawmill last summer to deliver lumber exclusively to China, putting 155 workers back on the job.
The United States still remains the No. 1 destination for the province's softwood lumber, but B.C. Forests Minister Pat Bell said Tuesday he believes the unprecedented growth could see China eventually surpass the United States.
The U.S. was the destination for seven billion board feet of lumber from B.C. in 2010. Bell said he believes the province can reach a target of six billion board feet to China by 2013.
"This market continues to grow unbelievably," Bell told reporters when he released the year-end export numbers.
"I believe we can reach a time when China is receiving more lumber than the United States," said the Prince George-Mackenzie MLA.
The growth into China has been rising steadily since 2006 when the value of shipments was $65 million. The shipments grew to $177 million in 2008 and hit $315 million by 2009 when 1.63 billion board feet of lumber was exported to China.
Bell said he sees no reason shipments in 2011 shouldn't surpass four billion board feet.
Initially, only low-grade lumber was being shipped into China, but that is changing. Lumber is being used for a number of purposes, including in concrete forming, secondary manufacturing and construction.
Bell has been working with his federal counterparts in Canada and China to position lumber as an environmentally-friendly building product, which could be suitable in three-to-six-storey walk-up apartments.
A demonstration project -- for which B.C. is supplying the wood at a cost of $100,000 -- is meant to showcase ease of construction and wood's environmentally-friendly nature. The three-storey, nine-unit prefabricated apartment will be built in a 72-hour window at the Green Building Show in China March 28-30.
Bell is on a committee with Qiu Baoxing, China's vice-minister of Housing and Urban-rural Development, instrumental in getting the wood-frame showcase project off the ground. The committee is meant to develop and promote wood frame construction to increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions in China.
The walk-up apartments constitute 60 per cent to 70 per cent of the 10 million units of housing built each year in China.
"If we can crack into that market, I think it will far exceed the capacity that B.C., Canada and, perhaps, the world can provide," said Bell, who is set to travel to China next month.
Bell said the biggest challenge in keeping apace with the growing demand for lumber in China is ensuring there is enough container and port capacity in British Columbia, particularly at Prince Rupert in northern B.C.
Another issue is that ships loaded at Prince Rupert normally travel to Vancouver and ports in the U.S. before travelling back to China, said Bell.
He'd like to see ships loaded at Prince Rupert travel directly to China, cutting down on transit time. Bell noted that there was enough lumber shipped to China last year to fill a ship every three days.
