VANCOUVER, BC – A new economic study by COFI highlights the vital role of British Columbia’s forestry industry, as it touches so many communities across the province. In 2022, the forestry industry engaged over 9,970 suppliers and vendors across BC, resulting in $6.6 billion in expenditures on goods and services. …“This study demonstrates that when BC’s forest industry is performing well, it benefits communities throughout the province. Without a healthy forest economy, thousands of businesses are impacted,” said Kurt Niquidet at COFI. …“However, the industry faces significant challenges that threaten its stability and growth. These include greater regulatory complexity, higher costs, and uncertainty over access to the land base.” In 2022, BC’s forest industry: spent $326 million on supply chain expenditures with Indigenous-affiliated vendors; has an average spend of $662,000 per vendor, had $1.2 billion of expenditures on logistics and transportation, and had $23.2 million of total community investments (from 2020 to 2022). [The Executive Summary of the report can be found here. The full report is here.]