Vancouver, BC: This week in Vancouver, the annual convention of the BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI) will bring together more than 700 local, provincial, federal, Indigenous and forestry leaders to discuss the future of the province’s forest sector. Held at the JW Marriott Parq Hotel, the convention is one of the largest gatherings of the forest sector in Western Canada and comes at a time when interest in conditions in BC’s forest industry has never been higher, and neither have the stakes. “Harvest levels on public forest lands in BC have dropped by almost half in the last five years”, said Linda Coady, President and CEO of COFI. “Since late 2022, the industry has and continues to experience a series of closures and curtailments. While the reasons for this vary and include markets, beetles, fire, industrial capacity rationalization, and new public policies, the consistent underlying factor is the access by BC mills to an economic supply of timber.”

Issues on the agenda include a new economic impact report from COFI and the current economic and investment outlook for the industry. …The 2024 program will look at increasing demand for products BC can produce, including engineered wood products for affordable housing and biomass and wood waste for energy and recyclable materials. BC Premier David Eby, Forests Minister Bruce Ralston, and Minister of State for Sustainable Forestry and Innovation Andrew Mercier will speak at the event.