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| Chinese market brightens for B.C. lumber |
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2009/2/11
The city government in Shanghai has formally endorsed a B.C.-designed wood roofing system as part of a plan to renovate apartment buildings in the Chinese metropolis by 2010, which could open a large new market for B.C. lumber.
Forests Minister Pat Bell called it an exciting breakthrough.
"With this approval, B.C. wood producers now have access to a market for as many as 10,000 new roofs over the next two years," said Bell, Prince George North MLA.
The potential wood truss market in China is estimated at 1.6 billion board feet a year, said Bell, which is about 10 per cent of B.C.'s average annual lumber output.
Bell said he hopes B.C. can capture as much as half of the 1.6 billion board feet potential market.
Marketing B.C.'s lumber products in China has been a focus of Bell, who led a trade mission there last year that included representatives of Dunkley Lumber, Canfor and West Fraser, all companies operating in the Northern Interior.
B.C.'s lumber shipments to China have steadily increased over the past several years and were expected to hit a record 750 million board feet in 2008. The final figures have not been released.
So far, however, most of the lumber destined for China has been of low grade used mostly for concrete forming, and also in secondary manufacturing.
The lumber required for the wood trusses is a higher grade.
For the past five years, the B.C. government and the industry, along with the federal Canada Wood Export Program, have targeted China as a major growth market for forest products. The renovation market, in particular, has been identified as having high-growth potential due to a deteriorating infrastructure of apartment buildings and medium-rise housing.
The B.C. government has helped sponsor a number of demonstration projects, including for roof trusses and wall construction.
Bell noted there are several thousand apartment buildings -- four to six storeys with perhaps 30 units per floor -- in the Yangtze Delta.
While Bell acknowledged there will be competition to supply the lumber for the trusses in China, he said because B.C. and Canada are on the ground, helping the Chinese develop the roofing systems, they already have established relationships they can capitalize on.
"B.C. and China have been the most aggressive on this front," said Bell, noting that there are at least 40 staff in China from the provincial and federal governments, and from B.C.-based forest companies.
The lumber used for the trusses comes from spruce, pine and fir, which are key products produced in the Northern Interior.
Dunkley Lumber manager Blair Mayes said he believes the roof truss market in China has potential, noting their marketing firm, Interex, which also represents other Northern Interior plumber producers, is investigating the opportunities.
Mayes said he particularly likes the fact the lumber needed for the trusses is higher grade. He said he believes trying to make inroads like this - stressing it will require work to grow the market - is a logical place to start. It makes more sense than trying to hit a home run and attempting to turn the Chinese market into a place that builds completely with wood, said Mayes.
Some forest industry analysts have said it will be a challenge to sell wood into China, which does not have a wood-building culture. Virtually all housing is built with concrete and brick.
Northern Interior producers have relied on the U.S. market, which normally accounts for up to 80 per cent of their export market. However, sawmills have had to curtail production significantly in the face of a collapse of the U.S. housing market.
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