Can mass-timber development help save B.C.’s forestry sector?

By Nelson Bennett
Business in Vancouver
April 3, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The B.C. government has been doing a good job of creating domestic demand for engineered wood products, as evidenced by the more than 350 construction projects in B.C. that use or propose using mass timber, according to NRCan. The question is: Can B.C. forests deliver on the supply? And critically, can the provincial government create the conditions needed to encourage forestry companies in B.C. to invest? …There are now half a dozen companies in B.C. that make some form of engineered wood products, like CLT, glulam and dowel-laminated timber. But this kind secondary manufacturing still depends on a healthy primary manufacturing sector, which depends on a reliable timber supply. Growing this form of manufacturing necessarily means addressing a fundamental timber supply problem. …But the bottom line is that B.C. manufacturers will have competition, so if the government is seriously about fostering a mass timber manufacturing sector, it needs to ensure there is a competitive investment and operating environment.

Read More