Woodworking industry

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.

Maine Governor Paul LePage signed an executive order directing that “any new or expanded state buildings shall incorporate green building standards that give certification credits equally to forest products grown, manufactured and certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiativ

With weaker demand for lumber around the world, sawlog prices fell in a majority of the 21 markets tracked by the Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ). The Global Conifer Sawlog Price Index (GSPI) declined in the 3Q for the first time since the 1Q/09.

The popularity of certain timber construction techniques appears to be spreading, with cross-laminated timber (CLT) proving to be particularly sought-after.

CLD is produced in a factory and involves industrially-drying quick-growing timber boards, before stacking them at right angles and gluing them together. The boards are glued across their entire surface, and one product will usually use three, five or seven layers of timber.

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.