As the B.C. government prepares plans to keep more logs and mill jobs in the province, the latest in a string of forest companies has continued to put its expansion investment into the United States.
Western Forest Products announced Friday it has closed a deal to buy Columbia Vista Corp. sawmill operations in Washington. Columbia Vista has operated at Vancouver, WA for more than 60 years, and now employs about 90 people producing 60 million board feet per year of Douglas fir products for the U.S. and Japan markets.
As B.C. forest companies have struggled with pressure on timber supply from diminished coastal logging and fire and beetle damage across the Interior, mills have cut production or closed while companies invest in U.S. facilities. Interfor Corp., one of the largest lumber producers in the world, has expanded by buying sawmills in Georgia, Arkansas and South Carolina.
B.C.-based Canfor Corp.91裸聊视频檚 latest acquisition is also in South Carolina, along with a 70 per cent stake in Vida Group, with nine sawmills in southern Sweden.
Low U.S. lumber prices, scarcity of logs after
91裸聊视频� Tom Fletcher (@tomfletcherbc)
Western is B.C.91裸聊视频檚 largest coastal lumber producer, much of it Crown tenure on Vancouver Island. Some Island forests are private land, the legacy of colonial Governor James Douglas91裸聊视频� 1850s deal with coal baron James Dunsmuir to trade Crown land for construction of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo (E&N) Railway.
91裸聊视频淭his acquisition is consistent with our strategy of pursuing margin-focused business opportunities that complement our position in selected markets,91裸聊视频� Western CEO Don Demens said in a statement.
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Premier John Horgan spoke out about the trend of log exports and disappearing B.C. mill jobs at the recent Truck Loggers Association convention, following up with another speech the next week at the B.C. Natural Resource Forum in Prince George.
91裸聊视频淔or the last 20 years, employment on the coast has declined by about 40 per cent,91裸聊视频� Horgan told the TLA convention in Vancouver Jan. 17. 91裸聊视频淟umber production has dropped by 45 per cent, pulp production by 50 per cent. At the same time, log exports from Crown land have increased by nearly tenfold.91裸聊视频�
Horgan promised 91裸聊视频渃arrots and sticks,91裸聊视频� to create incentives for mills in B.C. and reduce the export of 91裸聊视频渞aw logs,91裸聊视频� a ritual NDP term that has become a rallying cry on the B.C. coast.
In Prince George, Horgan promised to eliminate 91裸聊视频渟urrogate bidding91裸聊视频� so smaller lumber producers aren91裸聊视频檛 blocked from buying B.C. logs that are destined for Asian markets.
The industry is awaiting details of the province91裸聊视频檚 plans for export rules and incentives.
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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