Slumping exports of various wood products accounted for a significant drop in provincial exports in 2019 compared to 2018.
Exports originating from British Columbia dropped 6.4 per cent in value in 2019 compared to 2018, according to B.C. Statistics.
Softwood lumber exports dropped 25.7 per cent due to a combination of U.S. tariffs as well as falling demand. Solid wood products slumped 20.0 per cent in 2019. Shipments of logs (minus 10.7 per cent), softwood plywood and veneer (minus 19.1 per cent), other panel products (minus 19.3 per cent), cedar shakes and shingles (minus 3.9 per cent) and “other” solid wood products (minus three per cent).
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“Elsewhere in the forest sector, there was also a 20 per cent drop in the value of shipments of pulp and paper products,” reads an accompanying analysis. “Exports of pulp plunged 22.2 per cent, while there were also drops in shipments of newsprint (minus 6.2 per cent), other paper and paperboard (minus 13.1 per cent) and other pulp and paper products (minus 11 per cent).
Meanwhile, shipments of energy (2.3 per cent), agriculture and food products (8.6 per cent) and fish products (1.7 per cent) rose, along with exports of machinery and equipment (6.5 per cent).
All major foreign markets imported fewer products from British Columbia by value, including United States (minus 2.8 per cent), Mainland China (minus 3.6 per cent), Japan (minus 12.9 per cent), South Korea (minus 11.8 per cent), the European Union (minus 13.2 per cent), India (minus 0.2 per cent) and Taiwan (minus 13.7).
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