Canadian Forest Service Publications
Secondary manufacturing in British Columbia: Structure, significance and trends. 2001. Wilson, W.R.; Stennes, B.; Wang, S.; Wilson, L. The Forestry Chronicle 77(2): 301-308.
Year: 2001
Issued by: Pacific Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 18094
Language: English
Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)
Abstract
Similar to many other jurisdictions, British Columbia (BC) is no longer able to expand forest sector production and employment by drawing upon additional timber reserves, so it is seeking to expand value-added (i.e., secondary) manufacturing in forest products. Given the significance of the forest sector to BC, it is important that decision-makers seeking to promote an expansion in secondary manufacturing have accurate sector information. This paper presents the results of a 1998-99 survey of the BC solid wood secondary manufacturing industry. The project gathered operational, employment, production, marketing and financial information on nine defined product groups of business types (BTs) for 1997. The industry information is analyzed to provide a quantitative and qualitative examination on the current structure and significance of the sector, and a discussion on the major challenges confronting secondary manufacturing. An analysis of sector trends is also provided. Sector employment of nine business types totalled 19 490 person years and total sector sales an estimated $3.87 billion (about 22% of total BC forest product sales). Sales for seven business types (excluding panelboards, shakes and shingles) totalled $2.69 billion, up about 40% from 1994 measured in nominal dollars. Direct employment coefficients for a standard volume of timber equivalent are estimated for each of the business types.
