Bell Says It's Important Not To Think Chinese Will Convert To Wood Building

Monday, November 17, 2008 03:36 PM

Prince George, B.C. - Forest Minister Pat Bell says it is important not to think that the Chinese will convert to using wood for their building.

Bell, speaking from China, says his group of high profile Lumber bosses see the best opportunity in the re vamping of apartments that were built with flat roofs and are now leaking. "We have been able to put up a truss system in about three days, while in an adjoining apartment it is taking several weeks to weld a new angle iron truss system to stop the roofs from leaking."

The Forest Minister says there are thousands of these apartments in Shanghai. "We are only working on 38 so far. If we could grow the roof truss system we could be selling them about 1.6 to 1.8 billion board feet of lumber by 2009. I hope to see us selling about 4 billion by 2011.”

The apartments in question are owned by the local government, and the renovations are being done by local contractors.

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Posted on Monday, November 17, 2008 03:36 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: rvuser on November 17 2008 4:19 PM

Lets make sure we send the finished product not logs or lumber. We can build the trusses and ship them to be erected over there. The more value added we have the better.

Posted by: RUEZ on November 17 2008 4:41 PM

I doubt they would buy trusses pre made in Canada. The process of manufacturing them is so simple it wouldn't make sense to ship them pre-built and take up that much cargo room.

Posted by: Harbinger on November 17 2008 5:28 PM

Maybe send them a few copies of our provincial building codes. Translated of course.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on November 17 2008 6:53 PM

Good point RUEZ!
I am willing to bet the chinese will look at our trusses and say "ah so!" and start making them about twice as fast as we do.
The good thing is,we would hopefully sell them the lumber to do it with...hopefully.

Posted by: Chester on November 17 2008 7:29 PM

What has the waiting time been to get trusses made in this area? I don't think we are currently set up to be making trusses for an extended market.

Posted by: Fordluv on November 17 2008 8:33 PM

Quesnel has 2 truss places. The one here across from Walmart apparently makes most of its trusses for the lower mainland cause the local places down there cant keep up.

Posted by: loungingntheloops on November 17 2008 9:29 PM

I'm wondering where all of our Industry workers have been all these years .... now they need Pat teaching them how to market lumber and how to develop new markets and how to build with wood and how to build trusses, they should all be ashamed.

If the Industry is to be saved I think Pat should spend his time focussing on Government action and less time trying to position himself for the next election. Leave the marketing and selling to the experts.

It's amazing how somebody with no experience in any of this, can suddenly become and expert and a saviour once Gordo crowned him as forest minister.

Lord help our once great Forest Industry.

Posted by: Palopu on November 17 2008 9:52 PM

The Forest Companies that went to China have sales offices all over Asia.

China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, etc;

They have been selling lumber, pulp, and paper to these Countries for years.

While they were doing this Pat was cooking french fries.

This is more about the Election in May I suspect.

Posted by: swingline on November 18 2008 7:16 AM

Apparently we do need help, since the problem has been that we've put all of our eggs in one basket, so to speak. Forest industry in BC has relied very heavily on one customer - the US. That is what got us in this problem, and I for one am glad to see that progress has been made to market our products worldwide. Product diversification and supply to many different customers are the keys to going forward in BC forestry.

So much complaining goes on here, no matter what story comes out all there is are complaints and whining. I suppose industry and government are always going to be damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on November 18 2008 9:44 AM

Good point Palopu!
It has EVRYTHING to do with the election in May, and based on that,everything we are told should be taken with a grain of salt!

Posted by: Harbinger on November 18 2008 11:41 AM

Andyfreeze. Japanese people say "Ah so". Not Chinese people. According to all the "racist" cartoons I have watched while growing up in the fifties and sixties. Doncha know? Just FYI. You're welcome.

Posted by: Harbinger on November 18 2008 4:37 PM

Just a thought. What about the stuff that goes along with framing with 2X4s. Or is this sale just trusses? With 2X6s (What? No 2X6s for colder climes?) I'm talking fiberglass insulation and gyproc. What about door and window frames? Can't think of anything nicer than a nice gyprock wall. All painted nice and clean.