Forest Minister Katrine Conroy is leading B.C. forest industry leaders on a trade mission to Japan, the first in-person sales trip since the COVID pandemic began. She hopes to bolster sales at a time when the province’s lumber exports have been falling and fears of a recession are rising. “Japan is a critically important export market for B.C.’s high-quality wood products,” Conroy said in a news release. It is typically the province’s third-largest market after the U.S. and China. B.C.’s 2022 exports to Japan, however, were down 25 per cent in volume through the end of September compared with the same period of 2021, and down 14 per cent to $623 million compared with $723 million from 2021, according to provincial trade figures. Overall, B.C.’s lumber exports to the end of September, the latest figures available, are down 10 per cent on volume and 15 per cent on value, $6.1 billion compared with $7.2 billion over the same months of 2021.
See BC Government press release here