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B.C. Lumber Exports To China Exceed $1 Billion In 2011; Up 200 Per Cent From 2009

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First Posted: 01/18/12 06:49 PM ET Updated: 01/18/12 07:30 PM ET

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VICTORIA - The B.C. government says lumber exports to China have gone through the roof.

It says in the first 11 months of last year, the province had shipped 4.2 billion board feet of lumber to China, exceeding a goal of four billion set four years ago.

Exports are up 200 per cent from 2009, and their value has hit more than one billion dollars.

Jobs Minister Pat Bell calls the numbers astounding, saying about two dozen sawmills across B.C. have re-opened or added shifts partly because of the boost in exports to China.

He says China now takes about 29 per cent of all B.C. lumber exports, second only to the U.S., which accounts for 42 per cent of exports.

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Filed by Christian Cotroneo  | 

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
opprobrious
More speech. Less Flagging.
696 Fans
03:35 AM on 01/19/2012
Ratio of raw logs to finished products? Anyone?
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fromdnorth
OK I checked my micro-bio (didn't know I had one
1422 Fans
09:20 AM on 01/19/2012
My thought too... Posted mine before seeing yours... faved
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lily marsh
2 Fans
11:39 PM on 01/18/2012
How much crap do we have to buy so they will buy our lumber and in so doing send lumber prices skyrocketing for Canadians.
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headstrong
90 Fans
11:08 PM on 01/18/2012
Hey, they gotta sell it somewhere, and nobody's building anything in the US.
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Cyanotic
7 Fans
10:22 PM on 01/18/2012
It's high time Canada found another market instead of relying so heavily on the U.S. who in many cases don't play fair. Long past time we entered the Asian market. We should keep our nose out of other countries' method of government and human rights and concentrate on business.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
gravescanada
Bipolar-Playing life on hard mode!
420 Fans
 
07:35 AM on 01/19/2012
yeah, because there is never the possibility that China could turn on Nato.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Skookum1
shooting fish in a barrel is sure relaxing
120 Fans
09:40 AM on 01/19/2012
"long past time we entered the Asian market" is a gaffe, a big one, insofar as the BC economy goes. It's been tied to the Orient since Day One, even before the colony was declared. For decades we've sold logs/timber/timber, coal and other ores, shipped them wheat via the Pacific ports etc......I guess what's meant by "time we entered the Asian market" is when "we" means Alberta and Ontario.....
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
EQ8Rhomes
16 Fans
08:39 PM on 01/18/2012
If it's lumber, not logs, then jobs are being created in BC. How is logging managed? Will Canadians end up with very expensive lumber at home? I know we have to sell lumber that is blocked from USA.
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Spanky McFarlane
88 Fans
08:08 PM on 01/18/2012
No better than selling unrefined oil to the USA.
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Blodo
Time to build a better world
534 Fans
11:02 PM on 01/18/2012
It's better in three ways: First, it's a renewable resource. Second, it's carbon negative, meaning that as you turn trees into building products and replant harvested areas, you are sequestering more CO2 and removing it from the atmosphere. Third, it sounds by the sawmill openings mentioned in the article that at least a substantial potion of the exports are dressed lumber, rather than raw logs, so that means added jobs in Canada.
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SiameseTrainer
...we are Sia..mese if you don't please..
712 Fans
01:07 AM on 01/19/2012
I would agree with you B, provided that at least 95% of those new sales are coming from finished construction quality lumber. I sure wish I could see that in the story.
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john6118
2 Fans
09:42 PM on 01/19/2012
Renewable, yes. But at the pace required... not even close. 7 billion people now on this planet, with a large percentage of that approaching or exceeding middle class as time goes on, wood construction is no longer sustainable. It takes fifty years to reproduce one tree capable of producing a hundred or so board feet of lumber. Its high time we reconsider wood based construction standards and try something else.
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