Daily News for June 16, 2020

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Today’s Takeaway

Strong softwood lumber rebound forecast in 2021: FEA

June 16, 2020
Category: Today's Takeaway

The great softwood lumber consumption collapse of 2020 will mostly be regained in 2021, according to FEA’s Russ Taylor—lead-off presenter at FEA’s Global Softwood Lumber Conference—the virtual version. In related news: housing markets in Canada, California and China shrug off the COVID-19 effect. 

In other Business: the BC government takes heat over Mackenzie pulp mill closure; Resolute’s newsprint capacities are down 40%; and JD Irving to begin work its New Brunswick sawmill expansion. 

In other news: the Seattle Times picks up the BC old-growth story; the US administration is panned for its plan to open up national parks; and New Zealand’s MP’s move to prevent forestry price controls.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Special Feature

Softwood lumber consumption collapse in 2020 to be regained in 2021: FEA

Kelly McCloskey, Editor
The Tree Frog Forestry News
June 15, 2020
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, United States

Russ Taylor

Leading off the Global Softwood Conference was Russ Taylor, Managing Director, FEA Canada, providing a global overview of the supply trends and competitive dynamics of softwood log and lumber markets. Taylor’s focus was the big five markets of Europe, USA, China, Russia and Canada, in that they represent about 80% of the world’s production and consumption of lumber and timber. Key takeaways include FEA’s estimate of a 5% drop in softwood lumber consumption in 2020, followed by their forecast of a 4%-5% rebound in 2021. On the production side, a similar slide and rebound is expected, followed by steady growth thereafter. Global prices, which peaked in mid-2018 and then fell dramatically, have recovered from the subsequent COVID drop and strong pricing is expected to continue. Other speakers will cover these items in more detail.

Supply trends of note include the continued importance of China as a home for surplus volumes of lower grade logs and lumber, currently evidenced by high volumes of European logs and German lumber being being exported to China. Also notable was Central Europe’s spruce beetle infestation, which Taylor said is comparable to BC’s mountain pine beetle epidemic in its potential impact on the competitiveness of European log and lumber exporters in the short term, and in their sawmilling viability longer term.

Finally, Taylor referenced FEA’s benchmarking efforts which explain, amongst other things, how and why BC’s net wood costs became the highest in the world. Most notable was the collective impact of high stumpage costs—which Taylor called dysfunctional relative to prices—during a period of declining timber supply and low lumber prices. Taylor closed by noting that although global trends are always mixed, the BC example demonstrates that when markets are weak, higher-cost suppliers will always be displaced by lower cost suppliers.

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Global Softwood Log and Lumber Conference kicks off (virtually) with record attendance

By Kelly McCloskey, Editor
Tree Frog Forestry News
June 15, 2020
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, United States

FEA/Wood Markets 10th annual Global Softwood Log and Lumber conference—normally held in Vancouver, BC but transformed to a virtual event due to COVID-19—kicked off today with more than double the usual number of registrants (>600). A jam-packed in-person affair with dozens of world experts speaking on global log and lumber trends, the virtual conference version features pre-recored presentations (distributed to delegates today) followed by six live Q&A and discussion sessions over ZOOM on Thursday. Speakers will also cover the current impacts of COVID-19 on markets and trade around the world. Hosted by FEA-Canada Managing Director Russ Taylor and moderated by FEA’s Rocky Goodnow, all of the pre-recorded and live sessions are available post-event and registration is still available via FEA here.

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Business & Politics

Powell River council meeting held in new chambers, mayor comments on business, travel

By Paul Galinski
Powell River Peak
June 15, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

City of Powell River Council has moved into its new chambers in the old Powell River Public Library facility on the ground floor of city hall.  The first meeting in the new council chambers was held on June 11.  …Formosa said he met with Bob Brash, the new executive director of the Truck Loggers Association, and they spoke about the new vision the truck loggers are envisioning for forestry in BC.  “They feel they have something to add and they are putting together a business plan,” said Formosa. “They are trying to come up with ideas for government and industry on rehabilitation of the industry. For example, why don’t we have any new value-added sawmills in the province? Why are they closing and leaving? What can we do to encourage remanufacturing and value adding of our wood products?

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Liberals hammer NDP over Mackenzie pulp mill closure

Prince George Daily News
June 12, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Mike Morris

The closure of the Paper Excellence pulp mill in Mackenzie has renewed Liberals’ criticism of the NDP government’s handling of the forest industry in B.C. “Mackenzie has been in crisis for more than two years, and while the pandemic has presented its challenges, there is more than enough fibre in the area to support forestry operations and government has to step up to the plate,” said Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike ​Morris. “Step-by-step, the NDP is making it more difficult for companies and workers to make a living. I am very concerned about the community I have the honour of representing and the many workers impacted by this crisis.”​  Paper Excellence said the COVID-19 global pandemic is having negative impacts on pulp markets and that a fibre shortage in B.C. and the Mackenzie region have affected the mill’s competitiveness. This shortage was exacerbated by recent curtailment of sawmills in the Mackenzie region dramatically reducing economic fibre availability.

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40 per cent of Resolute’s newsprint capacities are down

EUWID Pulp and Paper
June 15, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Several newsprint manufacturers in North America are currently taking downtime as demand weakens. Resolute Forest Products has taken 40 per cent of its capacities from the market by halting two mills. The global publication paper market is struggling with significant excess capacity right now, as a spate of recent shutdown measures show – and North America is no exception. One company scaling back output is Canadian forestry group Resolute Forest Products, which has halted a considerable share of its newsprint production during the coronavirus crisis. The company has temporarily idled its Baie-Comeau and Amos mills in Québec, which can produce up to 322,000 and 194,000 t of newsprint, respectively. This equates to 40 per cent of Resolute’s total newsprint capacities of 1.3 million t, spread across six factories.

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J.D. Irving to begin work in July on $35M sawmill expansion in Doaktown, New Brunswick

Canadian Press in the Daily Courier
June 15, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

DOAKTOWN, N.B. – J.D. Irving Ltd. says work will get underway next month on the $35-million modernization and expansion at its sawmill in Doaktown, N.B.  The project will add about 1,300 square metres to the mill’s footprint by bringing together the sawmill, planer mill and value-added centre under one roof.  The sawmill in the Miramichi region of the province is currently located on the other side of the road.  New technology will be installed.  The project will employ a team of 60 people during peak construction.  Irving is hoping to start up operations next spring.

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How a forgotten timber tax cut cost Oregon billions

By Andrew Theen
The Oregonian
June 15, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

For decades, many Oregonians were told one story about how a small endangered bird — the northern spotted owl – played an outsized role in undercutting counties that depend on timber revenue to fund schools and other public services.  But that wasn’t – and isn’t the whole story.  On the latest episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, our Rob Davis and OPB’s Tony Schick discuss their joint investigation into how big money bought up private forestland in Western Oregon and how those investment companies benefited from long-forgotten tax breaks that ultimately cost these rural communities billions.  Davis and Schick are investigative reporters who’ve covered the environment in Oregon for years. They teamed up for this project, and partnered with ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative news organization.

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State officials investigate COVID outbreak at Maine lumber store; 13 cases linked

By Robert Dalheim
Woodworking Network
June 15, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

YORK, Maine – State officials are looking into whether or not Maine-based Eldredge Lumber & Hardware is the source of a COVID-19 outbreak. Thirteen new cases have been linked back to the store. All 13 cases have been members of the Eldredge staff, who all reportedly have had little contact with customers. Company general manager Dan Remick said the 13 infected employees all worked in the outdoor lumber yard, away from the indoor retail space. The company says it took proper precautions early on, forcing employees to wear masks and implementing one-way aisles and shields for cashiers. Remick says Eldredge reacted quickly upon learning of the infections – removing all employees that had the potential of coming into contact those infected. …The company employs 150 in total. 

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New Zealand MPs move to prevent forestry price controls

By Gavin Evans
The New Zealand Herald
June 16, 2020
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

Shane Jones

NEW ZEALAND — The forestry sector has had a small victory over its minister with Parliament’s environment committee limiting the potential for a new industry regulator to interfere in commercial agreements between growers and log buyers. New legislation intended to establish a register of log traders and forestry advisers is heading back to Parliament after being rushed through a truncated select committee process under Budget urgency. Forestry Minister Shane Jones claimed the measures were required to improve the quality of advice to small woodlot owners and improve the ability of local processors to compete against export log buyers. One of the most contentious aspects of the Bill was a clause that would allow a new Forestry Authority to set practice standards on everything from land preparation to harvest planning, emissions trading and even sales and purchase agreements for domestic or exports sales.

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Finance & Economics

Canada’s housing market shrugs off COVID-19 effect, for now

By Julie Gordon
Reuters
June 15, 2020
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada

Bidding wars and buoyant starts: Canada’s housing market is not buckling under the double-shock of COVID-19 and slumping oil prices, which have crippled the country’s economy and led to a record-high unemployment rate Home sales rebounded 56.9% in May from the previous month, the weakest April on record, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Monday. Prices were up 5.3% year-over-year and flat with April, as new listings have plunged, keeping supply tight in many markets. This follows surprisingly buoyant housing starts released last week, as construction clawed back from April shutdowns.

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10% more Southern California homes in escrow, 7th consecutive sales gain

By Jonathan Lansner
The Orange County Register
June 13, 2020
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States, US West

Southern California homebuying rose for the seventh straight week as house hunters put 10.3% more homes into escrow. Still, it’s a buying pace 3.1% below a year ago. Zillow’s weekly report on activity from brokers’ listing services in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties shows the housing market rebounding from economic turmoil created by “stay at home” orders designed to slow a pandemic’s spread. With 3,555 existing homes put into escrow in the week ended June 6 — buying is up 331 in a week but down 115 in a year. …Fewer restrictions on business, including home sales, plus low mortgage rates are putting owners and house hunters in a selling mood.

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China Home Prices Up Most in Seven Months as Economy Reopens

Bloomberg News
June 15, 2020
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: International

China’s home prices rose at the fastest pace in seven months in May, as the property market continues its rapid recovery from the coronavirus shutdowns. New-home prices in 70 major cities, excluding state-subsidized housing, increased 0.49% last month, National Bureau of Statistics data released Monday showed. That’s up from a 0.42% gain in April. Values in the secondary market, which is largely free from government intervention, gained 0.24%, also the most in seven months. Key Insights Interest in property is rekindling as China returns to business as usual, with prices rising across small, medium and large cities. …Even so, analysts are split on the outlook for the rest of the year.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

BARBIZON is a green urban living concept built from stackable CLT modules

Designbloom
June 16, 2020
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Envisioned by multidisciplinary studio AEMSEN, Barbizon is a modular residential complex that proposes a new urban living concept for barbizonlaan in capelle aan den ijssel, the netherlands. based of the principle of creating future-proof, sustainable and affordable housing, the project focuses on the use of a prefabricated timber structure that can be stacked to establish social interaction and a balance between the city and green spaces.  Barbizon has been designed as part of the redevelopment of the sites on the barbizonlaan, however, AEMSEN also proposes that the concept could be adapted to other locations and briefs. this specific scheme contains 112 apartments in 16 different housing types, varying in size from 45 m2 to 120 m2. the factory-built CLT modules are stackable and switchable without additional auxiliary construction. this dry construction method with biobased materials and gas-free apartments provides an attractive ecological residential complex.

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Forestry

Procter and Gamble (P&G) supports FSC Canada’s new responsible forestry standard

Forest Stewardship Council
June 9, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

https://youtu.be/vmGjb67drtY

Paper products are part of every Canadian’s daily life – from tissue to toilet paper and paper towel. That is why support from consumer goods companies, like Procter and Gamble, is critical to FSC Canada’s efforts to responsibly manage our forests.

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Scientists say the last of British Columbia’s old-growth trees will soon be gone, if policies don’t change

By Lynda Mapes
The Seattle Times
June 16, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Most of British Columbia’s old-growth forests of big trees live only on maps, and what’s left on the ground is fast disappearing, a team of independent scientists has found. A recent report revealed the amount of old-growth forest still standing in the province has been overestimated by more than 20% and most of the last of what’s left is at risk of being logged within the next 12 years. In the report, the scientists revealed most of the forest counted as old growth by the province is actually small alpine or boggy forest. …Change is in the works, but won’t be immediate, Doug Donaldson, minister of  Forests said in an email to The Seattle Times. “We are taking seriously the challenge of managing our vital old forests in B.C. That’s why we launched a review and engagement process by two independent experts to examine the issue and provide recommendations”. 

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Forest Service sparks controversy for pushing logging, oil during pandemic

San Francisco Gate
June 15, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

The Trump administration’s “blueprint” paving the way for more logging, grazing and energy extraction is the newest flashpoint over regulatory rollbacks during the coronavirus pandemic. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s order on Friday, meant to cut through legal red tape around chopping down trees, garnered praise from Republicans in Congress. But it is also drawing protest from conservationists concerned Trump officials are taking advantage of the pandemic to develop more of the 193 million acres of forests and grasslands managed by the U.S. Forest Service. …The order did not mention the pandemic, but it comes off the heels of an executive order from President Donald Trump this month urging agencies to expedite approval of infrastructure projects to juice the economy, which is in the middle of a four-month recession.

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4FRI deadline nears, with fate of communities on the line

By Peter Aleshire
Payson Roundup
June 16, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

After months of study, delay and reinvention, the U.S. Forest Service hopes to award contracts in September to start clearing another million acres of forest in the White Mountains and Rim Country. Well, hopefully September. Or soon after that. The Four Forest Restoration Initiative remains tight-lipped about the bids submitted for the historic, continually reinvented process to find some combination of private businesses that can save the ponderosa pine forests of northern Arizona by thinning average tree densities on 2.4 million acres from perhaps 1,000 trees per acre to more like 100. A massive environmental study suggests such efforts would restore forest health, dramatically reduce the risk of a town-destroying megafire and protect the watershed on which the Valley depends. …Two chief problems remain — getting rid of the biomass and protecting the old-growth trees.

 

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Prescribed burning needs careful calibration to succeed, inquiry hears

By Peter Hannam
Sydney Morning Herald
June 16, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Prescribed burning is a useful tool for reducing risks for communities but is not the solution particularly as the climate warms and dries, the bushfire royal commission has heard.  The Royal Commission into National Natural Hazard Arrangements heard on Tuesday from three top fire analysts who said reducing fuel loads needed careful planning to ensure hazards did not actually increase if landscapes became more fire prone.  “One of the primary motivations for changing fire behaviour by manipulating fuel is to increase the potential for active suppression of the fire,” Ross Bradstock, head of the University of Wollongong’s Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires, said.  “So by reducing fire intensity, for example, and reducing the rate of spread [and] reducing ember propagation, you are increasing the chance that people can get in there and work safely and suppress the fire.”

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Good time to reflect on what is at stake with the 356,000 hectares of forests under threat of being logged

By Peter Whish-Wilson, Tasmanian Greens senator
The Examiner
June 15, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: International

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Planting non-native trees accelerates the release of carbon back into the atmosphere

Scoop Independent News
June 16, 2020
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Large-scale reforestation projects such as New Zealand’s One Billion Trees programme are underway in many countries to help sequester carbon from the atmosphere.  But there is ongoing debate about whether to prioritise native or non-native plants to fight climate change. As our recent research shows, non-native plants often grow faster compared to native plants, but they also decompose faster and this helps to accelerate the release of 150% more carbon dioxide from the soil.  Our results highlight a challenging gap in our understanding of carbon cycling in newly planted or regenerating forests.  It is relatively easy to measure plant biomass (how quickly a plant grows) and to estimate how much carbon dioxide it has removed from the atmosphere. But measuring carbon release is more difficult because it involves complex interactions between the plant, plant-eating insects and soil microorganisms.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Climate change: Wales lags behind on planting new trees

BBC News
June 16, 2020
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Wales is falling behind the rest of the UK in planting trees to tackle climate change, official statistics show.  About 80 hectares of new woodland were planted in 2019-20, the lowest number for a decade.  Forestry experts said the figure – which amounts to just 4% of the Welsh Government’s target of 2,000 hectares a year – was “clearly disappointing”.  The government said it was taking “significant steps” to increase tree cover.  Across the UK, 13,460 hectares of new woodland were created in 2019-20, according to provisional figures compiled by government-backed forestry organisations.  This breaks down to 10,860 in Scotland, 2,330 in England, 200 in Northern Ireland and 80 in Wales.  More than 80% of the new planting occurred in Scotland, heralded as “outstanding” by the Scottish Government though it too missed its annual target.

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Forest Fires

No New Growth Expected For Wildfire South Of Helena

By Edward O’Brien
Montana Public Radio
June 15, 2020
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

There was minimal growth Monday on a wildfire burning near Clancy, south of Helena. Strong winds fanned the Lump Gulch fire Saturday afternoon which led to the mandatory evacuation of around 20 homes over the weekend.  Incident spokesman Duane Buchi says fire behavior was very quiet Monday.  “Once things calmed down a little bit and we got the rain on top of that, and cooler temperatures; yeah it’s really moderated. No expected growth at this point beyond the perimeter.”  The latest mapping has revised the fire’s size down to 1,100 acres, from 1,500 acres.  All mandatory evacuations have been lifted and all pre-evacuation notices for Lewis and Clark County were lifted Sunday.  

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