The Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, today addressed representatives of Canada’s forest industry at a luncheon speech at PaperWeek 2012 in Montreal.
The Minister highlighted the importance of partnerships, innovation and market expansion to the future of Canada’s forest industry in helping to sustain jobs in rural communities across the country.
Sabah Timber Industries Association (STIA) said the timber industry here is facing a shortage of raw material due to over logging in the past and lack of sustainable forest management program.
In a statement yesterday in conjunction with this year’s Chinese New Year celebration, STIA president Datuk James Hwong said the critical situation has forced STIA members to depend on other means to sustain the industry.
The global demand for timber resources has been highlighted by Tanzania's Minister for Natural Resources, who has called on international investors to entrust more of their money to alternative funds such as timber funds.
Ezekiel Maige told a gathering of international businessmen in the East African nation that the national demand for timber and its byproducts had reached 5 million cubic metres, while the nation's timber farms currently only had the capacity to produce 1.2 million cubic metres.
The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is pleased that the Minister of Natural Resources, Joe Oliver, has promoted Canadian wood frame construction as environmentally friendly and energy efficient during his trip to China.
Minister Oliver attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the completion of China's first four-storey wood frame structure, a joint Canada-China project using Canadian lumber, located in the Tianjin Economic Development area.
UNECE Timber Committee Statement on Forest Products Markets in 2011 and 2012
Adopted on 14 October 2011
The Committee reviewed developments in forest products markets as reported in the Forest Products Annual Market Review, 2010-2011, as well as experts’ presentations, country market statements and forecasts.
UNECE Region forest products markets rebound after two years of falling production and consumptionForest Products contributing to the green economy
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I. Overview of forest products markets in 2011 and 2012
New Zealand wood panels are being used for reconstruction in Japan after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has just released forestry production and trade figures for the April to June 2011 quarter.
The statistics show that roundwood removals reached an estimated 6.9 million cubic metres during the quarter. This is the ninth consecutive quarter of growth underpinned by the large volume of log exports, says Andrew Doube, MAF’s Acting Manager of Sector Infrastructure.
Russian hardwood plywood imports reached 416,000m³ in the first half, up 23% on the 340,000m³ shipped a year ago. The birch plywood imports made up much of the increase in EU hardwood plywood imports.
Lumber shipments from Canada alone could reach 1.2 billion dollars this year. The North American share of log and lumber import volumes to China has increased from four percent in 2005 to 18 percent in 2010.
The US and Canada have been exporting record volumes of logs and lumber to China in 2011. The Wood Resource Quarterly predicts that exports in 2011 will double those seen in 2010 to reach an estimated value of 2.6 billion dollars.
If no major policies or strategies are changed in the forest sector and trends outside it follow the lines described by the IPCC B2 scenario, consumption of forest products and wood energy will grow steadily and wood supply will expand to meet this demand (see Figure 24). All components of supply will have to expand, especially harvest residues (Reference scenario).
