Zoltan van Heyningen
WASHINGTON — The US Lumber Coalition supports Canada’s decision to drop its appeal of the second administrative review of the antidumping order in the trade case against unfairly traded softwood lumber imports from Canada. This step finalizes the total antidumping liability for Canadian softwood lumber producers who dumped their product into the US market in 2019. …“With the conclusion of this appeal, Canadian lumber producers will now owe US taxpayers an additional $236 million. That liability reflects the high level of dumping that occurred in 2019 and sets the stage for a total estimated payment of $760 million once the anti-subsidy portion of that review is completed,” stated Zoltan van Heyningen, Executive Director of the U.S. Lumber Coalition. To date, Canadian softwood lumber producers have paid an estimated $7.2 billion in duties as a result of their unfair trade practices, the majority of which will be liquidated into the US Treasury.
Shortly after Prime Minister Carney’s announcement of $500-million to help Canada’s softwood-lumber industry decrease its reliance on the hostile US market, BC’s Forestry Minister offered a modest target of 10%. …History suggests, however, that even that degree of market diversification stands to be an uphill battle. …While there have been modest inroads in China and Japan, diversification has mostly proved quixotic − partly because the proximity of the massive US housing market, for which there is not enough lumber harvested stateside to serve, has been a disincentive to reach further….Rick Doman, chair BC’s Forestry Innovation Investment board − mentioned South Korea, Vietnam, India, Australia, Britain. …Canada Wood Group president Bruce St. John describe it as a painstaking process involving promotional efforts, direct engagement with local governments on building codes and standards, and expertise-building for industry. …To succeed, particularly amid growing softwood-export competition from Europe especially, will require steady focus through and perhaps beyond the Trump era. [to access the full story a Globe & Mail subscription is required]
Ottawa — Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) welcomes the federal government’s announcement of new measures to support trade-exposed Canadian businesses and employees and to enable economic transformation. The measures announced today — ranging from the Strategic Response Fund to procurement reforms, tariff-response financing, workforce supports, and biofuels incentives — if well executed, can provide hope for the future for Canada’s forest sector and its 200,000 employees. In addition to the measures announced today, FPAC continues to call on the federal government to extend Clean Investment Tax Credits (ITCs) to include biomass for heat and electricity generation as part of Budget 2025. Introducing the biomass ITCs will create new jobs, improve energy security, lower carbon emissions, and help reduce wildfire risks. …“While a negotiated agreement on softwood lumber is the sector’s number one priority, today’s announcement is about trying to create stability as we modernize and innovate for the future,” said FPAC President and CEO Derek Nighbor.
VANCOUVER ISLAND — Over 3 months later, 105 forestry workers are still on the picket lines this week after walking off the job June 6, and it doesn’t look like they expect to be going back to work anytime soon. …“I didn’t think we’d get to this point,” said United Steelworkers’ Jason Cox. …The union says the company wants to contract out jobs but La-kwa sa muqw Forestry says that’s not the case, it just wants to give new employees the choice. Operations manager Greg DeMille said, “They are demanding that we agree to mandatory union certification. And so with that and the fact we can’t agree to that because we feel it impacts employee’s rights to choose and has an impact to First Nations rights to free, prior and informed consent. …The union says it respects First Nation rights but insists this should be considered a “normal labour dispute” and nothing else. 
Coulson Aircrane says the Saskatchewan government has agreed to pay more than twice what it should have for four firefighting aircraft — a decision the B.C.-based company says will cost Saskatchewan taxpayers an extra $100 million. Coulson, one of the leading companies in the world for retrofitting planes for firefighting, made the claim last month in an application to the Court of King’s Bench. “We are concerned the government of Saskatchewan has awarded a very large (over $187,000,000) contract for forest fire airplanes, without affording any reasonable opportunity to Coulson or any other competitor to bid on the contract,” says an affidavit filed by company president Britt Coulson. Coulson is asking the court to quash the sale and order a fair, transparent competition. …He says the government failed to hold a proper, competitive tendering process, resulting in Conair making “an immense profit.” …Conair has declined to comment, as the matter is before the courts.
The provincial government, through Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, is extending its agreement with Corner Brook Pulp and Paper to buy electricity. The initial agreement was made in March, 2024 for Hydro to buy electricity from Deer Lake Power, which energizes the paper-making machines at the Corner Brook mill for 27.5 cents per kilowatt hour. The deal has now been extended until March 31, 2026. Hydro will continue to purchase excess green energy from Deer Lake Power, while the mill continues work to identify new revenue sources through viable wood-based projects “to unlock Newfoundland and Labrador’s high forest potential while further stabilizing the mill’s sustainability and future,” wrote the province’s Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture in a news release on Wednesday. The department said the agreement will not impact rate payers. The announcement comes after the mill was forced to pause operations due to a number of wildfires.
WENDAKE, QC
Trade associations representing various industries issued a letter Tuesday expressing “serious concerns” about a proposed merger between major rail companies Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific. “We write to express our serious concerns and reservations about the proposed merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern,” said the letter, which came from trade associations representing manufacturing, chemical, energy and agriculture firms. “Past rail mergers have shown what happens when consolidation goes unchecked: service suffers, costs increase, and jobs disappear,” the trade groups wrote to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. …The railroad companies, however, have argued that the merger will be a benefit to the country, improving efficiency and allowing for more routes. …In addition to the American Chemistry Council, signatories of the letter include the American Petroleum Institute, International Dairy Foods Association and the American Forest and Paper Association.
Donald Trump has called on the European Union to hit China and India with tariffs of up to 100% to force Russian president Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. The US president made the demand during a meeting between US and EU officials discussing options to increase economic pressure on Russia. …Last month, the US imposed a 50% tariff on goods from India, which included a 25% penalty for its transactions with Russia. Although the EU has said it would end its dependency on Russian energy, around 19% of its natural gas imports still come from there. If the EU does impose the tariffs on China and India it would mark a change to its approach of attempting to isolate Russia with sanctions rather than levies.
EUGENE, Oregon — President Trump’s demand that the US increase timber output by a quarter is running into a math problem: Lumber companies may not make as much money on wood in the coming months. A steep drop in lumber futures prices nationally is jolting the wood products business just as the Trump administration is prodding the industry — including the government’s own forest managers — to ramp up production so the US doesn’t have to rely on imports. Futures prices on lumber at the end of last week dipped to $527 per MFBM, the lowest point in a year. For Weyerhaeuser, which operates a mill in Cottage Grove, Oregon, the pricing signal isn’t sounding alarms just yet. The mill’s in the middle of a multiyear modernization said representatives who figure the market is doing one of its usual seesaws. [to access the full story an E&E News subscription is required]
SHERIDAN, Oregon — The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has fined a Yamhill County wood treating company $1,055,825 for numerous violations of environmental regulations for water quality, hazardous waste and spill response and cleanup. 
JONESBORO — The Arkansas State University System board of trustees approved several policy changes during a meeting Friday at Arkansas State University. Trustees approved a policy to “ensure the efficient disposition of real property,” effective immediately. …Trustees also approved creation of a new hire and annual employee training policy — effective Jan. 1, 2026 — as the system doesn’t currently have a mandatory training policy. …Trustees approved naming the workforce training center at Arkansas State University Three Rivers for West Fraser for the next decade. …West Fraser “has made significant contributions to ASU Three Rivers, of a magnitude worthy of special gratitude and lasting recognition, including funding that will provide program support for workforce development and generous support through sponsorships, donations, resources, and collaboration that has created significant revenue for the college,” according to the resolution. …Over the past eight years, the college has collaborated on more than 15,000 training hours with West Fraser.
LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. — A large fire at Weaber Lumber comes just over a month after the company filed for bankruptcy. Weaber, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Aug. 1, according to online records. The company also filed a WARN notice in July at its distribution center on 25 Keystone Drive. In that notice, the company said 145 people would be laid off from July 26 through Sept. 9 of this year. The fire broke out Monday night around 10 p.m. at the company’s headquarters at 1231 Mt. Wilson Road, and it took firefighters until Tuesday morning to bring the blaze under control over eight hours later.
SOUTH ANNVILLE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A three-alarm fire ripped through Weaber Lumber in Lebanon County. Crews responded to the fire in South Annville Township around 10 p.m. on Monday. Flames could be seen leaping from the burning building. The blaze was upgraded to the third alarm, prompting a large firefighter response. According to Lawn Fire Company Chief Dillon Wilson, approximately 1.1 million gallons of water have been used from the on-site hydrant system to combat the fire. Tankers also brought in additional water to the scene. Chief Wilson said most of the building was engulfed in flames when crews arrived. “It got ahead of us,” Wilson said. The chief believes this building might have the most combustible materials under one roof in the state. Weaber Lumber has experienced multiple fires over the years. …For 80 years, Weaber has been proudly committed to the lumber industry and is one of the nation’s leading hardwood manufacturers.
New Zealand — Up to 119 jobs could go at Carter Holt Harvey’s Tokoroa factory, with locals calling the move devastating for the town. A union representing workers at Carter Holt Harvey’s Tokoroa plywood manufacturing plant says its closure will be devastating for the town. The company has begun consultation with staff on closing the plant and importing ply from overseas, with the loss of up to 119 full-time jobs. The proposed closure follows OJI Fibre Solutions cutting 130 jobs and closing the country’s last paper-making machine at nearby Kinleith in June this year. Red Middlemiss has been a union spokesperson at the ply plant for 23 years. He said Carter Holt Harvey can now make and import plywood from overseas for around 60 percent of what it costs to manufacture it locally.
Timber illegally sourced from Russia has been found in the UK housing supply chain, according to an investigation by Australian forensic supply chain specialist Source Certain. Imports of Russian timber were prohibited in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine. However, the investigation identified a smuggling operation that concealed the timber’s origin by relabelling it as material from the Baltic States, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The findings raise concerns for the housing and construction sectors, where suppliers investing in certified and responsibly sourced timber face higher operational costs. Industry voices warn that without effective monitoring, compliant businesses are being undercut and the credibility of the wider supply chain is being damaged. In response, UK-based Think Timber has introduced a packaging system designed to provide traceability from forest to building site. Each pack incorporates a unique QR code that, when scanned, verifies the chain of custody and origin of the material.
