Operations at the Big River Sawmill and Planer have been temporarily halted. (file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Industry on hold

COVID-19 presents news challenges and opportunities for forest sector

Apr 21, 2020 | 3:00 PM

The president and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) remains optimistic about the future of the country’s forest sector, despite the challenges faced at the present time by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Derek Nighbor told paNOW the pandemic has shown just how essential forest products are as material for masks, gowns, toilet paper and paper towel. But that being said, he added he is also worried what will happen if the federal government doesn’t provide assistance to keep saw mills running.

“There’s no need to rush to the store to get toilet paper today but we are saying if in the months ahead, we continue to see more sawmills taking downtime, we are going to have some supply challenges for our pulp mills,” he said.

Nighbor explained one of the factors playing into the forest sector’s survival is the ability of our biggest trading partner, the United States, to recover from the pandemic. Nighbor said depending on the year, $15 to 20 billion worth of Canadian lumber is sold to the United States.

“One of the biggest drivers of the success of our lumber market is U.S. housing starts and of course there are not a lot of homes being built in the U.S. right now which is unfortunate,” Nighbor said. He added further challenges have arisen from banks tightening lending requirements for new mortgage applications.

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(file photo/paNOW Staff)

Despite the challenges, a wave of optimism still surrounds the forest sector. Nighbor explained prior to the pandemic, the sector was in a state of recovery from the stiffer softwood lumber duties imposed in 2017. And with the recent move away from single use plastics, Nighbor said there has been a resurgence in wood as an environmentally friendly construction material.

“Wood fibre can be used to replace some of those products,” he said.

Last Friday, Nighbor appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance to share with the members of Parliament how Canada’s forest sector and workers are managing through the current COVID-19 crisis. He also presented ideas on how the industry and government can work together to get through the difficult months ahead, and quickly turn to recovery and growth again in 2021.

Representatives from the Canadian Federation of Agriculture were at the same meeting and called on the federal government to create an emergency relief fund. Nighbor acknowledged his sector shares many of the same challenges but he added there are also differences as the forest sector has not seen the same significant massive, quick decline in revenues.

“Our companies right now cannot tap into the wage subsidy program,” he said.

The Big River Sawmill and Planer have temporarily suspended operations and most employees were laid off as of March 27. Bill Kordyban, President of Carrier Lumber Ltd., provided a statement to paNOW and explained the company is monitoring the situation every day.

“Our goal is to bring our employees back to work as soon as it makes sense to do so,” he said.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell