GOOD WEEK FOR FORESTRY
There has been a fair amount of positive news for Canada’s forest industry this week, starting with word out of the United States that lumber futures rose, and are heading for the biggest gain in almost seven weeks. That was following reports from the U.S. government that housing starts were up 1.7 per cent to an annual rate of 546,000.
According to a Reuters news report, Jamie Greenough, a futures broker and lumber analyst at Global Securities Corp. in Vancouver, B.C. said, “the inventories in the field are very low,” and “there are some expectations that maybe the U.S. is in need of some inventory replenishment.”
Meanwhile, in northern B.C. a group of forest companies reached a tentative labour agreement with approximately 2,000 workers who have been without a contract for more than a year. The previous contract expired in June 2009 but workers remained on the job. The new agreement is a four-year deal. Full details have not been released, but it is reported to include wage increases in the last two years, job security measures and the possibility of profit-sharing if lumber markets improve. The agreement is between the United Steelworkers Union and a number of companies operating in northern B.C., including Tolko Industries, AbitibiBowater, Conifex Timber and West Fraser Timber.
Other good news this week included the re-opening of a pulp mill in Mackenzie, B.C. Paper Excellence B.V. re-opened the mill on Aug. 17, following a two-year shutdown. The move means 220 workers will return to work at the mill and an estimated 500 spin-off jobs will be created, including jobs in the logging side of the industry.
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