Canadian forestry companies will pay no export taxes in June on wood sent to the United States for the first time since the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement, the latest jolt of good news for an industry rebounding after a severe depression.
While recovery is widely expected to be choppy, a new era in forestry is emerging, with the export tax at zero another marker of the change. Supply and demand dynamics are quickly shifting: There are far greater exports to China and supply faces a crunch, from forests in British Columbia killed by the pine beetle to regulatory reductions in the amount of trees that can be cut down in Ontario.
The decades-long acrimony around softwood lumber trade between Canada and the United States could soften. By 2013, when the current deal expires, the market could evolve so much that the complex legal battles that marked the last round of softwood disputes may not happen at all, effectively ending one of the longest-running trade fights between Canada and the U.S.
“It`s too soon to say but I subscribe to that notion,” said Hank Ketcham, chief executive officer of Vancouver`s West Fraser Timber Co., the largest lumber producer in North America.
In the short term, Canadian producers are celebrating the end of the export tax under the current agreement, at least for the month of June.
Source: http://www.ctv.ca |
