For the better part of the last decade, most of the news coming out of the forestry sector was doom and gloom. Now, early in 2011, who would have thought that one of this town's oldest industries, recently deemed to be on death's doorstep, has the potential to rise from the edge of the abyss?
B.C. lumber shipments to China, up to and including last August, saw a healthy 75 per cent increase from the previous year. Predictions for the future are even rosier. According to some experts, the price of lumber could hit $500 for 1,000 board feet, a figure that is more than 50 per cent higher than the going rate at the moment.
With the downturn in sales to the U.S., according to Frank Everitt, president, local 1-424, United Steelworkers Union, "the momentum in the China market not only provides for continued employment for workers across the North, but also opportunities for more mills to re-open."
Tolko Industries is shipping the entire output from its Quesnel operation to China. Canfor, Western Forest Products and National Choice Specialty Wood have re-opened mills, or have added shifts, to take advantage of strong demand in the booming Chinese market.
Restarts in northern B.C. include Conifex's Fort St. James sawmill and Hampton's Decker Lake sawmill in Burns Lake. Asian giant Sinarmas recently re-opened a pulp mill in Mackenzie.
The B.C. forest industry is also seeing a significant increase in the quality of lumber shipped to China. A few years ago the bulk of orders were for economy and utility grades. Now an estimated 35 per cent of softwood exports are construction-grade wood.
A recent trade mission, led by provincial Forests, Mines and Lands Minister Pat Bell and senior executives from the forestry industry, made several major breakthroughs to promote wood-frame construction and boost the demand for B.C. lumber in China's major population centres of Shanghai, Tianjin and Beijing.
One highlight of the mission involved a groundbreaking wood-frame construction project in the Tianjin Economic Development Area, 160 kilometres southeast of Beijing.
China is on its way to becoming the largest construction market in the world, and China's government has set ambitious targets and guidelines for "green" buildings. Next month, the benefits of pre-fabricated wood-frame housing will be demonstrated by assembling a pre-fab home during a three-day green building conference in Beijing.
And this coming May, Shanghai will host the Prefabricated Dwelling House and Modular Building Expo. According to their website "the exhibition will gather new products and technologies, attract buyers and investors, providing a one-stop purchasing platform for your business development in China."
Referring to the healthy growth in sales to China, Hank Ketcham, the chief executive officer of West Fraser Timber, the world's top lumber producer, recently told the Globe and Mail, "This is going to be a really good business to be in."
Does a former logging hub at the top of Howe Sound, presently short on good jobs and long on daily work-related commutes to Whistler and the Lower Mainland, have a plan in place to capitalize on this sudden fortuitous turn of events?
