British Columbia’s (BC) timber industry must unite to take advantage of the market opportunities offered in China, according to the province’s forestry minister Pat Bell.
Mr Bell wants to see a single body used to represent exports from BC to China, with major companies in the area such as Western Forest Products, West Fraser Timber Co Ltd and International Forest Products Ltd joining forces.
This would be coupled with the introduction of metric measurements to make BC timber more attractive to the Chinese market.
“Let’s get into China and let’s do it as a team,” Mr Bell is quoted as saying by Canada’s Financial Post.
”Send a single face, don’t argue with each other. Deal with that in BC,” he added.
Mr Bell has already made clear his intention to increase the volume of BC timber sold to overseas markets, with China a particular target.
“With the downturn in the US, it is more important than ever to promote BC wood products aggressively in overseas markets,” he said.
