B.C. lumber shipments into India remain at low levels, but a significant increase this year, after import restrictions were removed, is being viewed with promise by industry players and the province.
Provincial data shows that 17,923 cubic metres of B.C. lumber was shipped to India in the first four months of 2011, more than five times as much during the same period last year.
The dollar value of the exports in the first four months of 2011 is $3.4 million, compared to $682,000 for the same period last year.
While it is still a small amount compared to exports to the large markets of the U.S., China and Japan, the exports to India to April already are more than that exported in the two previous years combined.
The increase has come after India lifted lumber import restrictions because of concerns over harmful insects in shipments. India's agriculture ministry granted approval in early January for spruce, pine and fir lumber imports that have been heat treated.
The B.C. industry is interested, in part, because shipments to China, which hit the 2.8 billion board feet mark in 2010, also started at very low levels a decade ago.
While Canfor is only shipping a "little bit" of lumber to India, the company is definitely interested in its potential, said Canfor Corp. spokesperson Christine Kennedy. "We're keen to see similar things happen around India as happened in China," said Kennedy.
The growing Chinese market has allowed Canfor to re-open sawmills in northern B.C., including a sawmill in Quesnel, Chetwynd and Mackenzie. It has also helped offset a collapse in the U.S. housing market.
"We'd love to see a co-operative government-industry program such as happened in China. We sure see it as a market with a ton of prospect going forward," said Kennedy.
In China, the lumber industry has co-operated with the B.C. and Canadian governments in accomplishing in the past decade the establishment of government-to-government relationships, the adoption of a national wood building code, co-operation on wood demonstration projects, and the introduction of wood-construction skills training.
In its weekly newsletter, Madison's Canadian Lumber Reported featured the India trade story, noting that while the numbers are small, it is the rate of increase that is important. "This is the same as the situation that unfolded when B.C. lumber started flowing into China. At first the volumes were tiny . . . but three short years later, China is the second biggest importer of Canadian wood by volume," wrote Madison publisher Keta Kosman.
Kosman likes the potential in India because of the interest in finished products like flooring, siding and moulding, unlike China, which is mostly interested in logs and lumber.
The B.C. Liberal government is also interested in exploring the potential for a wood products market in India.
India, like China, is a populous country with a growing middle class. With a population of 1.1 billion people, it is second only to China, which has a population of 1.4 billion.
Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister Pat Bell said marketing lumber to India falls under his ministry's auspices, but he characterized efforts this year as exploratory.
His ministry supports two small offices in India -- in Bangalore in southern India and in Chandigarh in northern part of the country.
Bell noted that if the current pace of lumber exports is maintained until the end of 2011, 40 million to 50 million board feet of lumber could be shipped to India.
"That's starting to get more significant. What we saw in China is that exponential growth means three or four years from now, it becomes a very real and meaningful impact," observed Bell, the MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie.
