Bell Optimistic About Mill Activity

By 250 News

   
Agriculture Minister Pat Bell says he believes the local lumber manufacturers will be able to withstand the drop of housing starts in the US from 2.1 million to 1.5 this year because our mills are much more efficient than their counterparts in other parts of the country.

Bell says because we are more efficient operators and the fact that there still will be a demand for wood products to build the 1.5 million homes, “I think we will be in a good position”. 4 or 5 % of the market had been taken by foreign  lumber producers said Bell, "They were able to get their lumber into the US without duties , but now that has ended and they are forced to compete on a level playing field."

The dollar may be high and the market may be soft but Bell says our guys will be around "In bad times the good get better."
Bell says "If you had to have a down time, now is a good time given that some of the operators have just received the rebate cheques from the countervailing duties which will carry them through any slump."

The beetle will still be the focus  in the new year "I think we still will be logging the Pine Beetle wood in the New Year even if there is a slump in the US housing market." 

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