Prince George, B.C. - Minister of Forests and Range, Pat Bell, believes the forest industry has turned the corner on the recession.  

Speaking on the Meisner program this morning on CFISFM, Bell says he expects Mackenzie will see a much better year ahead. He believes Canfor will add a second shift in Mackenzie “Abitibi won’t be called Abitibi anymore,   I think it will be called something  else and it will be up and running and employing people. The finger joint plant at East Fraser Fibre likely will be running and producing product,. The pulp   mill I would say is 50-50. I think there is a good chance something will come forward.”

 “There is a   company called Aspen Planers which recently bought two plants which had been closed, one in Savona the other in Salmon Arm, so these are good signs the industry is starting to turn around.”

Bell says there are some people interested in buying the Abitibi mill in Mackenzie but doesn’t want to say it’s a sure thing “There have been deals in the past that have been close, but fell apart.”

There are still challenges to overcome, for instance the future of the Eurocan Mill in Kitimat. Slated for closured at the end of January, that would put 565 people out of work. That is a specialized mill that was making liner board and retooling that mill to produce just pulp is just too  expensive “I’m not saying the Eurocan mill can’t be saved, but I think it’s going to be a tougher sell than the Mackenzie operations.” Bell says the Northern Development Initiatives Trust, the town of Kitimat and the Province have come together with some funding for a feasibility study on the workers taking over the mill.

Bell says there is good news in the exports to Asia, “It’s a real breakthrough, no question.” He expects shipments of lumber to the Chinese market   to continue to grow. Last year, B.C. shipped 720 million board feet to China, this year,   that has grown to 1.5 billion board feet, and next year he expects it will be in the 2.5to 2.8 billion board feet, which is about 25% of all lumber produced in B.C.