NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release 2008FOR0157-001753 Nov. 17, 2008	Ministry of Forests and Range
B.C. WOOD SALES IN CHINA SUPPORT JOBS ON B.C.’S COAST

SHANGHAI, CHINA – New orders for B.C. lumber help provide some stability for mill workers and loggers on Vancouver Island, Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell and Duncan Kerr, Chief Operating Officer of Western Forest Products, announced today.

 

“The China trade mission has been a great success with participating companies able to secure 83 million board feet in new orders for B.C. lumber from all areas of the province,” said Bell. “If we continue with that pace on a monthly basis, that represents one billion board feet of lumber per year going into China – the equivalent production of four large B.C. sawmills.”

 

Recently released sales data for January to September 2008 show that British Columbia exported 552 million board feet of softwood products to China, well over the record 493 million board feet exported in all of 2007.

 

Western Forest Products will be shipping about 7.6 million board feet this month and another 24.4 million board feet in the first quarter of 2009 to Shanghai and Qingdao, China. The lumber will be produced primarily at Western Forest Products’ Cowichan Bay sawmill from hemlock harvested on northern Vancouver Island. Western recently modified some of its equipment at its Cowichan Bay mill to manufacture the required lengths of lumber for the Chinese marketplace and changed its logging plans to focus on harvesting hemlock.

 

“These lumber sales represent an ongoing business opportunity which we’re looking to develop further with continued support from Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd., Canada Wood Group and collaborative trade missions involving government and industry, such as this one,” said Kerr.

 

Key site visits for delegates on the trade mission included the earthquake reconstruction in Mianyang and Beichuan, the grand opening of a wood-frame school campus in Baoshan, the Xiang’E school to be built using wood-frame construction, and the Putuo commercial roofing renovation project.

 

The Province, through Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd. and in conjunction with the Canada Wood Group, has been working over the last several years to diversify B.C.’s markets by demonstrating new uses for softwood products.

 

Photos from the China trade mission are available online in the Ministry of Forests and Range media room http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/pab/media/.

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Media contact:	Sophia Proctor Ministry of Forests and Range 250 387-4592
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