Forests Minister Doug Donaldson provided an update on his trade mission in China and Japan.
He hosted a teleconference from Tokyo today (Wednesday) and touched on the importance of the Chinese and Japanese export markets and how that lends a helping to hand to sawmills in northern BC that may be struggling.
“These markets ensure that the mills that are producing still have significant markets to produce in and part of my trade mission focuses on here with the thoughts of workers and contractors and communities of BC depend on trade.”
“China is our second-largest export market and represents 28% of the total forest products exported from BC. Japan is our third-largest export market and in 2018, representing 1.5 billion dollars worth of forest products from BC.”
He adds clients and customers remain eager to talk about the high-quality wood products as well as existing and future opportunities in both markets creating more certainty and stability for milling jobs and the small businesses that depend on the industry in rural communities in BC.