In The Forest Industry Its Dog Eat Dog: One Man's Opinion

By Ben Meisner

Over the past year there have been a number of attempts to focus on an impending problem, the crash of the lumber industry. Opinion250’s very own Peter Ewart tried to bring the issue to the forefront with a series of meetings at CNC.

Strangely enough some of the major players in the industry didn’t show, they where taking the approach that the meetings are simply bitch sessions. They were wrong and now we see the fall out.

There was plenty of warning about the collapsing US housing market. The industry was talking long before the event. Signs pointed to a collapse but most wanted to take the position that it would not affect their mill, their town, or their province.

Given that about 50% of the total wood manufactured in Canada comes from the central part of BC, someone should have been paying attention.

So we now have the perfect storm , the housing market in the US goes into the ash can, like had been predicted , the beetles have done their chewing and that wood is losing ground to mother nature every day , and finally the Canadian dollar took a hike in spite of efforts to keep it down on the farm.

The fall out has been fast, mills have cut shifts, cut staff and suspended operations. 1800 people in the past couple of months  and the count is expected to climb.  1800  now find themselves facing the prospect that the New Year will mean the unemployment lines.

Did we make major plans heading into this impasse?  No, just ask Ewart , the people that make the decisions failed to show to look for solutions, and those that did could not without their support .

We now find ourselves in a strange holding pattern, in many cases mills are trying to keep mum about any curtailment of operations hoping that the “other guy” will have to blink first and they will grab their share of the market.

It’s the old dog eat dog syndrome.

Canfor cuts production but interestingly enough it is in areas were previously they had shipped chips to opposition pulp mills. Chetwynd and Mackenzie being prime examples. They also have cut production where the travel distance is long. What is the fall out?  A strategic move by Canfor or just luck, you figure.

Until the industry realizes that it can’t keep ramping up production in an effort to kill the other guy and a reduced amount of production may and I say may increase prices nothing will change, and as for you Peter Ewart, by now you for one have a better understanding of how the industry works.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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