Wood

Sustainable by nature and innovative by design - British Columbia, Canada is a world leader in supplying diverse and sustainable forest products.

Industry Snapshot

The world’s largest exporter of forest products, British Columbia produces primarily dimension lumber, pulp, biomass and other wood products. We are also Canada’s leading supplier of wood construction and finishing wood products.

• We are the world's largest supplier of softwood lumber, contributing $3.6 billion to GDP in 2010.
• The U.S., China and Japan are our largest markets for wood products, with the U.S. importing 52.8 per cent of all wood products in 2010, China 16.5 per cent and Japan 12.3 per cent.

• The B.C. forest sector had direct employment of 52,000 jobs in 2009, 2.3 per cent of total employment.
• Pulp and paper is a $3.5 billion industry in B.C. with more than 30,000 employees.
• British Columbia is one of the world’s largest exporters of wood fibre.
• In 2010, forestry and wood product exports from British Columbia amounted to $9.1 billion, and approximately 80 per cent of our forestry output is sold on international markets.
• Exports of B.C. forestry products in January 2011 were up by 21 per cent over January 2010, and the value of lumber exports to China more than doubled in 2010.

British Columbia produces a full range of forest products from logs to lumber to engineered wood products and beyond for domestic and international use.

A global leader in sustainable forest management, British Columbia is committed to long-term, sustainable harvesting and comprehensive reforestation.

• Home to one of the largest public forests on earth, British Columbia has a total land base of 95 million hectares (235 million acres) and nearly two-thirds is forested.
• Forest areas that are harvested must be reforested with natural species, and more than 6 billion trees have been planted since the 1930s.
• Of the roughly 60 million hectares that are forested in British Columbia, over 50 million hectares are certified by independent, third-party organizations as being sustainably managed, an area larger than all certified lands in the United States and more than double that of other wood-exporting countries.

Competitive Advantage

British Columbia’s forestry companies are highly mechanized with large volumes of output of higher value stands, resulting in lower cost production and increased cost-competitiveness.

• The New West Partnership Agreement between British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan creates Canada’s most open and competitive economy where goods, services, workers and investments can move freely and efficiently between the three provinces.
• British Columbia has no general corporation capital tax, no employer payroll taxes, no franchise tax and no machinery sales tax.
• Under the Harmonized Sales Tax, savings to businesses in the forestry sector are expected to be approximately $140 million per year.
• Since the forest sector uses large amounts of energy, British Columbia benefits from relatively low-cost energy.
• Reliable, renewable hydroelectric power supplies almost 90 per cent of British Columbia’s electricity needs.
• Foreign firms located in British Columbia have duty-free access to the world’s largest market under the North American Free Trade Agreement. The rules of origin provisions in the agreement ensure secure market access for exported goods and services.
• On October 12, 2006, Canada and the United States implemented the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement. The lumber agreement ended costly countervailing duty and anti-dumping litigation.

British Columbia’s forestry and wood products sector includes large companies and highly-trained workers with well-respected reputations, producing a wide variety of products for structural and finishing needs.

• Our forestry companies are moving up the value-added chain and into clean energy such as bio-fuels.
• We place a strong focus on research, leading to new product and service opportunities.
• British Columbia has an extensive and globally-recognized forest product research network that is leading to innovations which can then be commercialized.
• As Canada’s Pacific Gateway, British Columbia has a world-class transportation network that includes airports, seaports, railways, roadways and border crossings, connecting the North American market through British Columbia to Asia and the world.

British Columbia is a great place to work, live and invest. Our diverse and expanding economy is generating a wide range of exciting investment opportunities. We offer a ready labour force, a number of programs targeted to employers’ labour needs and over 15 educational facilities with focused training programs for developing the forestry workers and professionals of the future.

Incentives

British Columbia provides provincial incentives to encourage business investment and innovation. Incentives, which may be as tax credits or refunds, are available for research and development, machinery and equipment investment and other sector specific activities.

• The new Wood First Act promotes the use of wood products by requiring provincially-funded building projects to use wood as the primary construction material. In an average year, the Province funds about $3 billion worth of capital projects.
• British Columbia’s Venture Capital Program offers a 30 per cent refundable tax credit for investments in small B.C. companies engaged in alternative energy research and development.
• Canada – Investments in Forest Industry Transformation Program will provide $100 million over four years for projects that implement new technologies leading to non-traditional high-value forest products and renewable energies.
• Northern Development Initiative Trust provides $30 million in dedicated funding to support capital investment and new job training in central and northern B.C.
• The $550 million Sustainable Development Tech Fund supports projects that address climate change, air quality, clean water and clean soil.