As the province aims to cut back on raw log exports and increase BC milling operations, the owner of Madison’s Lumber Reporter says it won’t have much impact on the interior. Keta Kosman says the industry works differently. The biggest factor for lumber in BC’s interior is the U-S housing market and the province’s plan to cut back on raw log exports will mainly benefit the coast.

She says the way it’s working now doesn’t look at other value of timber and some the local facilities could benefit by being converted into a spruce mill, a re-manufacture, or some value added product. “Like the cross laminated or some these new engineered wood that is definitely the future. The beauty of that is you don’t need to use the number two saw log to make it, you can use some the other fibre in the forest that traditionally has not really been considered as valuable.”

Kosman says the sale volume for lumber this year is lower and the price is down a lot, and people are confused about what the demand is in the U-S.

She says it will be paying attention to the 2020 election, but it doesn’t really matter which government is in power south of the border. “Every time a new softwood lumber dispute is launched it’s more severe against Canada. When you see the situation here in BC some of these movements by the government, in a way, are trying to make a more open market system, to make a more transparent log pricing system.”

Kosman says one thing the coalition complains about is that it’s not an open market auction log sale, but a government created price. So as we move into the future, the more BC can do to keep the timber supply a market system, the better it is for us.

By Jeff Andreas