Premier David Eby delivered the closing luncheon keynote at the 2026 COFI Convention on Friday, addressing a packed room of delegates and committing to a range of actions on fibre access, market diversification, value-added manufacturing, and reconciliation. The session, moderated by COFI President and CEO Kim Haakstad, included a substantive question-and-answer period. Eby opened by acknowledging both the challenges facing the sector and the role provincial policy has played in them — including restrictions around old growth and other policies that he said the government needs to do a better job of consolidating to ensure the fibre supply industry requires can actually be delivered. He described the conference theme of “Forestry is a Solution” as accurate across multiple dimensions — economic, environmental, and community — and said the province is committed to ensuring a sustainable forest sector for the long term. On tariffs, Eby said the US cannot produce enough wood to meet its own domestic demand and has been increasing imports from Europe and Russia to fill that gap — at higher cost to American consumers and at the expense of housing affordability.
The Tree Frog News has been featuring the panels and speakers from the Council of Forest Industries 2026 Conference over the last week. For those who missed the coverage, here are all of our summarized stories.
Four of BC’s leading forest sector CEOs delivered a frank and at times sobering assessment of the industry’s current state at the 2026 COFI Convention, telling delegates that conditions are among the most difficult any of them have encountered in careers spanning more than three decades. The session, moderated by Bridgitte Anderson, President and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, brought together Susan Yurkovich, President and CEO of Canfor; Sean McLaren, President and CEO of West Fraser; John Mohammed, President and Owner of A&A Trading Ltd.; and Steven Hofer, President and CEO of Western Forest Products. The panel was structured around questions, with the CEOs offering distinct perspectives shaped by their different roles across the sector’s value chain. …On current operating conditions, the panelists were unified in their assessment. Hofer said this is the most challenging business environment for a BC forest products company he has encountered in 33 years. …Yurkovich said BC used to be the last company standing in a downturn — with well-placed fibre, excellent sawmills, and skilled workers. That has changed. BC is now the first down.
The U.S. Department of Commerce plans to reduce duty rates for most Canadian softwood producers, but they would still need to pay hefty levies of 34.83%. US import taxes on softwood lumber currently total 45.16% on most Canadian producers, including combined countervailing and anti-dumping duties of 35.16% and tariffs of 10%. In its announcement on Thursday, the Commerce Department said it expects to decrease the anti-dumping duty rates to 10.66% from 20.53 %. Most Canadian producers also face paying 14.17% for countervailing duties, down slightly from 14.63%. The revised anti-dumping and countervailing duties equal 24.83%, and when combined with the tariffs, the levies total 34.83%. …Kurt Niquidet, of the BC Lumber Trade Council said, “These duties continue to make it more expensive to build homes at a time when both countries should be working together to improve housing affordability.” …New duty rates are intended to take effect by late summer of 2026, subject to further revisions in a final determination. [to access the full story a Globe & Mail subscription is required]
Mercer International’s bonds slumped after it sought to ditch rules requiring equal treatment for all creditors — a move that would give the struggling pulp producer the power to pick and choose which lenders to favor in a restructuring. The company asked owners of its bonds due in 2028 and 2029 to remove a provision that forces it to pay all lenders equally when it seeks to strike a debt deal, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Separately, a group of Mercer’s creditors has organized in anticipation of debt talks with the company and plans to sign a cooperation pact binding them to act together. …Mercer is grappling with weak earnings and dwindling cash flow that’s left it struggling under the weight of its debt, which stood at about $1.6 billion at the end of last year. S&P Global Ratings downgraded the firm to CCC+ in February.
VANCOUVER — Ottawa must make a case of “mutual benefit” with the United States as it advocates for Canada’s softwood lumber industry during trade negotiations, BC Premier David Eby said Friday… “the US cannot produce enough wood to meet its domestic demand.” …The premier’s remarks came after the U.S. Department of Commerce posted its preliminary tariff determination for the sector, with total duties estimated at just short of 25%, lower than the current rate of more than 35%. …COFI’s Kim Haakstad, agreed with the premier, saying it’s important for B.C. to ensure softwood lumber doesn’t “get lost” among other industries based in Eastern Canada. …The Independent Wood Processors Association said the US ruling was “further evidence” the softwood lumber dispute mechanism has become a “broken process”. The BC Lumber Trade Council said Canadian lumber producers continue to face “unjustified and punitive trade measures.” BC Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said the province was disappointed.
Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests, issued the following statement in response to the US Department of Commerce’s release of preliminary results of the seventh administrative review of its anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on Canadian softwood lumber: “BC stands with all those across Canada in our disappointment that the US has signalled that it will continue to impose unwarranted and unfair duties on Canadian softwood lumber products. “These duties serve only to damage both of our economies by harming BC and Canadian communities, and increasing the cost of housing and renovations for American families. “Duties on Canadian softwood lumber needlessly favour offshore imports that endanger North American jobs across the supply chain. Workers in BC, in Canada and in the US are worse off from duties on softwood lumber.
When it comes to the future of the forest industry in Newfoundland and Labrador, the struggling newsprint mill in Corner Brook usually steals all the headlines. But some key players in the lumber manufacturing business say they’re framing up a solid future. And they have very different opinions when it comes to Kruger-owned Corner Brook Pulp and Paper, and that company’s $700-million strategy to modernize its paper making operations, and become a long-term electricity provider to the provincial power grid. “We’re confident in [Kruger’s] plans … for the future, and we’re confident in the direction the forest industry is going to take in Newfoundland,” says Kyle Osmond, operations manager at the family-owned Burton’s Cove Lumber and Logging mill in Hampden, White Bay. …So as the forest industry navigates yet another crucial period in its long history, the often-overshadowed sawmill sector is keen to emerge from the shadows, but their business approach is markedly different.
TORONTO — Kevin Holland, Associate Minister of Forestry and Forest Products; Mike Harris, Minister of Natural Resources; and Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, issued a statement in response to a preliminary indication from the US which suggests that softwood lumber duties may decrease from the current rate of approximately 35% later this year: “Ontario’s forest sector has a global reputation as a leader in the G7 in the production of high-quality wood and wood products. …While this preliminary indication suggests some relief for softwood lumber producers later this year, Ontario remains firm that duties are unwarranted and not supported by the evidence. We continue to call for the full removal of all duties that raise costs for both American and Canadian families. These ongoing duties and tariffs reduce productivity, disrupt supply chains, drive up the cost of construction and make housing less affordable.”
Rising tensions between the United States and Iran are creating mounting challenges for recycled paper mills across the Gulf region, known as the GCC. The sector is heavily dependent on imported recovered paper, particularly OCC (old corrugated containers) and mixed waste paper from Europe, the United States and Asia. Geopolitical instability has led to higher freight costs, increased insurance premiums and growing uncertainty in supply chains. Although local waste paper collection remains relatively stable, the unpredictability of imports has made procurement strategies more complex. Delays and disruptions in shipments risk directly affecting production. At the same time, the cost of key inputs is rising. Prices for chemicals, starch and spare parts are increasing due to logistical bottlenecks and delayed deliveries. …Despite these pressures, the market outlook in the Middle East remains relatively stable in the short term. …However, prolonged geopolitical uncertainty could gradually dampen industrial activity and consumption.
Russia’s forest industry warns that up to 50% of companies could shut by the end of 2026 as lower export prices, higher transport costs and a strong ruble push producers deeper into losses. Regional lawmakers and industry participants ask First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov to approve a three-year moratorium on creditor-initiated bankruptcy cases in the sector, along with tax deferrals and a pause on debt collection for liabilities accumulated by January 1, 2026, Russian Kommersant newspaper reports, citing a committee of the Arkhangelsk regional assembly. The draft says even large companies in the region have exhausted their financial reserves, are operating at a loss and are starting to miss tax and other mandatory payments. It puts total sector losses over the past three years at more than 15 billion rubles. State support for exporters also drops sharply, with compensation for forest export costs falling from 7.6 billion rubles in 2023 to 550 million in 2026.
In the first quarter of 2026, the NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI) posted a reading of 62, down two points compared to the previous quarter. Despite this decline, the overall reading has been solidly in positive territory since Q1 2020. Remodeler sentiment remained generally positive in the first quarter, even as many remodelers are still working to manage their customers’ cost expectations. Only a relatively small share report homeowners putting projects on hold due to economic and political uncertainty. Ongoing positive remodeler sentiment is consistent with NAHB’s outlook, given an aging housing stock and the lock-in effect of elevated mortgage rates keeping owners in the homes longer. In the first quarter, remodelers reported 21% of their projects were associated with home improvements made shortly after a purchase, while only 4% were for homeowners’ projected to ready a home for sale. 
The UK construction sector is being encouraged to increase its use of homegrown timber, as industry experts highlight the benefits of locally sourced materials over imports. Despite the availability of sustainable domestic options, nearly 80% of timber used in the United Kingdom continues to be imported. This reliance is now being questioned across the supply chain. …A key issue raised within the sector relates to timber grading. Architects and engineers frequently specify higher grades such as GL28 or C24 without fully assessing project requirements. This trend has developed due to historical dependence on imported Scandinavian timber, where C24 is the standard grade. In contrast, the most common grade produced in the UK is closer to C16. This mismatch has led to inefficiencies. British timber is often overlooked. Specifications are sometimes made without full evaluation. The ‘Trust UK C16’ campaign is aiming to address this imbalance. 
It didn’t take long for the smoke to clear following 2017’s horrendous wildfires for the BC government to respond with a plan to log more forests and plant more trees. The scale of what had just happened exceeded anything on record. Fires burned more than 12,000 square kilometres of the province’s forests and grasslands. No wildfire season over the previous half century had come remotely close. Yet, it would take just one more year for a new record to be set. In its 2017 post-fire response plan, BC’s Ministry of Forests promised to replant the forests that had burned. …But a look at what actually burned in the worst fires of 2017 suggests that aggressive logging and “reforestation” — essentially just tree-planting — sets the stage for even more frequent wildfires to come. …Science shows that young stands of trees, with their branches lower to the ground, are more vulnerable to burning in catastrophic fires. 
Recently, the phrase “active forest management” has come into usage by the forest industry in numerous countries. In Australia, the equivalent terms are “forest gardening” and “cultural thinning.” …The concept is convenient for the forest industry because it allows companies to continue doing what they have done since the onset of industrial logging. Better yet, the industry is promoting the idea that logging is a solution to the wildfire problem we now face. Actually, the massive cutting down of forests in B.C. and elsewhere has created the problem that the industry wants to solve by more cutting down of what is left of our primary or unlogged forests. Clear cutting forests creates several problems. First, it dries out the land. Without the shade that trees create to cool the land, and without tree roots holding back the water from snow melt and precipitation, the land becomes highly susceptible to fire. 
Alberta’s environment minister has expanded the province’s definition of “protected lands” in a bid to reject Ottawa’s nature strategy. This comes after Canada, along with 195 other countries, announced plans to protect 30 per cent of its land by 2030, an objective known as 30×30. But Grant Hunter, Alberta’s minister of environment and protected areas, said that the province already protects 60 per cent of its land based on its own definition. “Federal reporting measures do not capture the full picture, focusing on narrow definitions of protected land,” he said. “Alberta takes a different approach. Our province includes all publicly owned and regulated lands, including those protected from development.” …Alberta rejects Ottawa’s one-size-fits-all approach to conservation and expects recognition and provincial jurisdiction of all national conservation targets, Hunter said. Alberta’s claim to have already achieved the 30×30 commitment is “concerning” and “disingenuous,” said Kecia Kerr, of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Northern Alberta.
Last week, the US Forest Service announced that it will be closing three-quarters of its research facilities as part of a reorganization. Now, experts are worried not only about the number of scientists who might be leaving the agency, but also about how the disruption could affect the gathering and dissemination of crucial wildfire and climate change data. The restructuring comes as parts of the US face what is expected to be a catastrophic wildfire season. The most recent wildland fire outlook shows that wildfire activity is already “well above average,” with more than 16,000 wildfires reported this year. Under the reorganization plan, the Forest Service will close 57 of 77 research facilities, as well as move its headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, Utah. It will also close all nine of its regional offices; some states will then get their own offices, but others will be consolidated. 
Domtar says WorkSafeBC is investigating after a worker was injured at its Port Alberni mill last week and taken to hospital in serious condition. CHEK News reported that the man had a burn injury. “A full investigation is underway with WorkSafeBC, and we intend to share more information as it becomes available,” Domtar said in a message to employees. It also recognized coworkers who responded quickly to help the man “and ensured that he received immediate care.” B.C. Emergency Health Services said it was called at 5:44 a.m. April 9 for the incident. [END]