Timber supply to diminish in BC as sawmill shutdowns pressed down on timber production

Posted on January 30, 2023   |  

Last week, Canfor announced the closure of its pulp mill in Prince George which resulted in a loss of 300 high-paying jobs, which is the recent closure in B.C. 

At present, over 30% of the B.C.’s interior’s sawmills are either permanently shut down, or temporarily curtailed, and there have been 4 permanent pulp mill closure announcements since 2021 including Canfor's Taylor pulp mill, which was indefinitely curtailed in 2021. 

These 4 mills represent 20% of the current pulp and paper capacity in the province and are no longer the major centers of employment and economic activity. 

Industry analysts blame the NDP government for policies that decreased the timber supply and shrunk the annual allowable cut (AAC).

The current government is indifferent to the difficulty of forestry-dependent communities because their political base is not in the forest communities.  

NDP's several policies have further restricted access to logs, the most significant one being a moratorium on logging in areas with old growth, which had an immediate impact on BC Timber Sales.

In 2022, the province’s crown-land harvest fell by 13% to 6 million cubic meters and on January 18, the government announced another new policy that will reduce the annual allowable cut in the Fort St. John region by 350,000 cubic meters.