Thousands of lumberjacks, members of the Canadian Forestry Corps, logged the forests of Scotland during the Second World War to produce desperately-needed lumber for the war effort. Among them were Carl and Jack Jones, two brothers from Invermere, British Columbia. In a world filled with manmade materials, it is easy to forget that during wartime there was an extremely high demand for WOOD. It was estimated that every soldier needed the equivalent of five trees: one for living quarters and recreation; one for crates to ship food, ammunition, tanks, and other equipment; and three for explosives, gun stocks, ships and factories. Many of them, sadly, needed wood for their own coffins. The Canadian Forestry Corps, a military unit of the Canadian Army, was created during the First World War. At first, the plan was to ship Canadian trees overseas, but since space aboard merchant ships was so limited, our skilled lumberjacks were sent to harvest the vast forests of Scotland instead.
Day two of the Global Wood Summit in Vancouver opened with a presentation by Alejandra Glazebrook from PwC (Platinum event sponsor). Glazebrook presented insights into the forest sector, highlighting its significant contributions to the Canadian economy, employing over 200,000 people and generating approximately $35 billion.
ERA Forest Products Research’s John Cooney opened day two of the Global Wood Summit in Vancouver by introducing Alejandra Glazebrook of PwC Canada, who provided an overview of global trends in forest sector profitability. Cooney followed with a detailed report on the North American lumber market and then moderated a Q&A panel with Ken Shields (Conifex Timber), Stefan Lyren (Olympic Industries), John Bal (Interfor) and Dean Garofano (Delta Forest Group). In addition to weak lumber prices—economic fibre shortages, softwood lumber duties, residual offtake challenges and lingering labour constraints—were noted as causing headaches for producers. Over 3 billion board feet of sawmill capacity closures were announced across North America in 2024, after about 2 billion board feet between 2022 and 2023. And sawmill closures are no longer just a BC phenomenon with over 1.2 billion board feet of curtailments in the historically “lower cost” US South to date in 2024.
To get a sense of the potential impact of Donald Trump’s plans for sweeping tariffs, look no further than the Canada-U.S. softwood dispute. …Since 2017 in the latest phase of the long-running trade war over lumber, companies based in Canada have paid more than $10-billion in U.S. duties. Production from U.S. sawmills, including those owned by Canadian-based companies, is exempt from the lumber duties. Canadian-based producers have descended on the U.S. South over the past dozen years and set up shop in the lumber region, and thereby found a way around the punitive duties for the U.S. portion of output.
B.C. business leaders are bracing for the potential economic impacts of another Donald Trump presidency. Trump has promised to implement new tariffs of at least 10% on all American imports, an attempt to promote made-in-America goods and boost the U.S. manufacturing sector. That could hurt BC manufacturers and the province’s forestry sector, contracting already stagnant economic growth, says Laura Jones, of the Business Council of BC. Tariffs “are terrible for consumers,” Jones says. They could raise the price of certain products — including softwood lumber — for Americans, forcing them to look elsewhere. …David Frum believes Donald Trump could ‘mess up’ the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement and hold those countries ‘to ransom’. …A report released last month from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce found that a 10% tariff would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
Business groups say the work stoppage at BC ports is the latest in a run of supply chain disruptions affecting Canadian companies and the country’s economy. Employers at most of the province’s ports locked out their workers November 4 in a dispute involving roughly 700 unionized foremen. The workers represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 have been without a contract since March 2023. “It’s been absolutely brutal. I mean, the timing of this is just really challenging,” said Pascal Chan, senior director of transportation, infrastructure and construction at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. …Greater Vancouver Board of Trade president Bridgitte Anderson said the shutdown will disrupt $800 million in goods every day, warning it could put upward pressure on inflation. …Despite the importance of Canada’s ports, Fraser Johnson, a professor at the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario said the rail disruption posed a more imminent threat.
A second-term David Eby BC NDP government is “marginally better” than the alternative that appeared to be in the cards on election night, business leaders said last week. …In an open letter to the new government, seven business associations… urged the new government to take B.C.’s flagging economic health seriously, and get its fiscal house in order. …At last week’s Global Wood Summit, Rob Schuetz, president of Industrial Forestry Services, said 16 sawmills, three pulp mills and four paper mills have been shut down in B.C. since 2020. He gave a laundry list of NDP government policies that have reduced access to timber and increased costs and bureaucracy. …Don McGregor, VP for Western Forest Products, summed up a sentiment that may be shared by the wider resource business community. “If it sticks, the NDP have a majority and they don’t need the Green Party,” he said. “I would take that as a positive.”
On October 30, at the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver, BC, four lumberman — Mitchell Preger, Gregg Riley, Charles Delatorre and Ashley Boeckholt — talked about the complexities of lumber supply and demand. As the lunch keynote for the final day of the Global Wood Summit, “The Lumber Word” podcast team engaged with conference delegates, taking questions via Pigeon Hole while sharing their real-time trading experience in lumber and futures. Hosted by seasoned industry trading veterans this podcast delves deep into the complexities of the lumber supply and demand balance in the physical lumber market. “The Lumber Word” isn’t just for professionals in the industry; it’s for homebuilders and multi-family builders seeking guidance when making budgeting and project purchase decisions. Investors and venture capitalists with an eye on the lumber industry also benefit from the podcast’s grassroots conversations. Listen to the Global Wood Summit edition of the podcast on Spotify and Apple.
BURNABY, BC — Interfor Corporation recorded a Net loss in Q3’24 of $105.7 million compared to a Net loss of $75.8 million in Q2’24 and a Net loss of $42.4 million in Q3’23. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $22.0 million on sales of $692.7 million in Q3’24 versus a loss of $16.7 million on sales of $771.2 million in Q2’24 and Adjusted EBITDA of $31.9 million on sales of $828.1 million in Q3’23. …In Q3’24, lumber production totalled 904 million board feet, representing a 130 million board foot decrease over the prior quarter. This decrease reflects the temporary production curtailments announced on August 8, 2024. …On October 16, 2024, Interfor announced plans to exit its operations in Quebec, Canada, including the sale of its three manufacturing facilities and the closure of its Montreal corporate office. …The Company sold Coastal B.C. forest tenures totalling approximately 125,000 cubic metres of allowable annual cut.
Residential building construction costs increased 0.9% in the third quarter, following a 1.0% increase in the previous quarter. Non-residential building construction costs rose 0.5% in the third quarter, following a 1.4% increase in the previous quarter. This marks the slowest quarterly growth since the second quarter of 2020 for residential building construction costs and since the fourth quarter of the same year for non-residential building construction costs. Year over year, construction costs for residential buildings rose 4.0% in the 15-CMA composite in the third quarter of 2024, while non-residential building construction costs increased 3.9%. Builders noted that the industry continued to face cost pressure from skilled labour shortages, land prices and availability, and building code changes.
NEW YORK — Mercer International reported third quarter 2024 Operating EBITDA of $50.5 million, an increase from $37.5 million in the same quarter of 2023 and $30.4 million in the prior quarter of 2024. In the third quarter of 2024, net loss was $17.6 million compared to a net loss of $26.0 million in the third quarter of 2023 and a net loss of $67.6 million in the second quarter of 2024, which included a non-cash impairment of $34.3 million against goodwill related to the Torgau facility. Mr. Juan Carlos Bueno, Chief Executive Officer, stated: “In the third quarter, softwood pulp markets continued to be strong and fiber costs remained stable. However, our operating results were constrained as a result of lower pulp sales volumes caused by unplanned downtime at our Peace River mill and other unexpected production events.
VANCOUVER – Western Forest Products reported a net loss of $19.6 million in the third quarter of 2024, as compared to a net loss of $17.4 million in the third quarter of 2023, and a net loss of $5.7 million in the second quarter of 2024. Other highlights include: Lumber production of 127 million board feet (versus 126 million board feet in Q3 2023); Lumber shipments of 138 million board feet (versus 130 million board feet in Q3 2023); Average lumber selling price of $1,378 per mfbm (versus $1,388 per mfbm in Q3 2023), primarily due to a slightly weaker sales mix of specialty lumber products; and Average BC log sales price of $113 per m3 (versus $118 per m3 in Q3 2023). …As previously announced, we plan to reduce lumber production in our BC sawmills by approximately 30 million board feet in Q4 2024, following reductions of approximately 30 million board feet in Q3 2024.
MONTREAL, Quebec – Stella-Jones announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2024. Sales in the third quarter were $915 million, compared to sales of $949 million for the corresponding period last year. Excluding the positive effect of currency conversion, sales were down $44 million, or 5%. Net income for the third quarter was $80 million, compared to net income of $110 million in Q3, 2023. “Despite strong long-term demand tailwinds, we witnessed a slower pace of purchases by our utility customers. Though total sales were lower than anticipated, we delivered a solid quarter EBITDA margin of 17.7% and strong operating cashflows,” said Eric Vachon, President and CEO. …“Utilities continue to forecast meaningful increases in infrastructure investments, evidenced by the longer-term sales contracts secured from new and existing customers.”
Over a span of several decades Växjö, a small city in southern Sweden, has grown a reputation as “a living research area” to test different construction materials and building solutions. Wood designed buildings have been a major part of the movement which is why the municipality of 100,000 residents has been nicknamed Timber City, Sweden, a hefty moniker in a country known as a world leader in wood construction. Fredrik Lindblad, who works at Växjö’s Linnaeus University in institutional management focusing on forestry, wood products and housing, said the city has come a long way from its environmental roots in the 1970s. He presented a seminar at Summit 2024, a WoodWorks conference recently in Toronto, highlighting the city’s shift to sustainable building practices primarily through using wood (mass timber in particular) as a building material.
The BC Building Code (BCBC) was changed recently to allow single egress stair (SES) designs in low- and mid-rise buildings. The B.C. government says it means “families and people will soon have more multi-bedroom apartment options available to them.” But the province’s firefighters are worried about safety and say the move needs to be paused. …The province says in the interest of safety, new single-exit buildings will require automatic sprinklers (including on balconies), smoke detectors and wider stairwells. The changes put a limit on the travel distance to the exit. They also limit the occupancy load to 24 people per floor. …The Fire Chiefs Association of BC (FCABC) second vice-president Jason Cairney says there is no evidence the BCBC changes are safe. …“The proposed changes should be paused or reversed and instead put through the rigorous National Building Code process, which is based on research, evidence and data.”
…Through the 2 Billion Trees (2BT) program, the Government of Canada is doing its part to support communities. As of June 2024, the government has signed or was negotiating tree-planting agreements with 11 of 13 provinces and territories, 40 Indigenous partners, 32 municipalities, 86 non-governmental organizations and more, representing a commitment to plant 716 million trees — nearly tripling last year’s total. …The work done to plant millions of trees and sign agreements in 2023 has laid a strong foundation for tree-planting efforts to ramp up in the coming years, including the over 160 million new trees announced today. …2023 was the 2BT program’s most significant year yet. Work for years to come is well underway, starting with today’s announcement of over $200 million. Every new tree planted will benefit the environment as well as Canada’s economy and community well-being. 
The Okanagan is increasingly threatened by wildfires due to rising temperatures and drier conditions caused by climate change. To address this growing crisis, the B.C. government has outlined a climate action strategy with several measures that, if tailored to the Okanagan, could effectively mitigate wildfire risks and enhance regional resilience. …The government’s pledge to conserve 30% of B.C.’s lands by 2030 can support wildfire management in regions like the Okanagan, which hosts diverse ecosystems that can serve as natural firebreaks. …Sustainable forestry practices along transportation routes and near communities could help create additional fire barriers. Expanded firefighting resources, such as water reservoirs and aerial capabilities, would improve the region’s response capacity. Protecting watersheds and old-growth forests in the Okanagan is essential, as these ecosystems can act as natural barriers that slow wildfire spread. …Facing heightened wildfire threats due to climate change, the Okanagan has an opportunity to lead with a coordinated, community-driven approach to resilience.
Barrie, Ontario – Since 2007, Forests Ontario has facilitated the planting of 46.5 million trees, enhancing 900,000 hectares of connected forest landscapes through over 8,000 restoration projects across 10 provinces. Now, Forests Ontario is becoming 