Worker looking over a cut area in BC/BCTS

A coalition representing part of the US lumber industry is firing a shot at BC’s Forests Minister, who has suggested the State-side industry is not willing to engage.

“I think the B.C. Forest[s] Minister should spend more time addressing B.C.’s massive excess capacity which is the source of Canada’s unfair dumping practices than trying to play politics,” stated Zoltan van Heyningen, Executive Director of the U.S. Lumber Council, in an emailed response to Radio NL.

The comments from van Heyningen are in direct response to earlier comments made to Radio NL by BC’s Forests Minster when asked if there can be overriding agreement to bring the broader dispute to an end.

“A meeting with Zoltan [van Heyningen] Executive Director of the US Lumber Coalition was scheduled,” said Parmar.

He says that meeting never came to be, saying the US side dropped it at the last minute due to members of the media discovering the session was going to take place.

“For a guy that talked a good game about standing up for the forest sector, he didn’t have the courage to come and actually sit across from me and make his case and actually try to work something out,” alleged Parmar.

Van Heyningen argues otherwise but does not dispute the claim the two were preparing to meet.

“We are standing up for our industry and workers by holding Canada to account each and every day for its ongoing egregious unfair trade practices,” said van Heyningen.

“The results are crystal clear,” he added.  “The U.S. Department of Commerce has found once again that Canada has engaged in harmful unfair trade practices as established by the significant antidumping and countervailing duty rates.”

The initial anti-dumping and countervailing duties that were calculated based on US sales of Canfor and West Fraser Mills products through 2023 to 2024 have been revealed.

The investigation — which did not include any other players aside from Canfor and West Fraser — has found a combined penalty of nearly 34.5%.

That is the amount of cash that will be needed per $100 worth of wood product to be secured at the border before it can move across.

The 34.45% duty will kick in when the final determination comes into effect sometime in August.

While that is the ‘universal fee’ that Canadian firms will have to pay, the hit for Canfor is larger, with a 46.5% duty coming at the border in August.

While the expectation is that the company exporting the product will pay for the duty, the reality is that wholesalers in the United States are being asked to absorb that cost increase.

The US wholesalers will put up a bond to allow the shipment of the Canadian product get across the border.

“Unfair trade by Canada to the tune of 34.45% in the U.S. softwood lumber market substantiates yet again the everyday egregious harm to the U.S. industry by Canada’s abusive dumping and subsidies practices,” continued van Heyningen.

“These unfair trade practices are designed by Canada to maintain an artificially inflated U.S. market share for Canadian products and force U.S. companies to curtail production, thereby killing U.S. jobs,” said Andrew Miller, owner/chair of Stimson Lumber Company and Chairman of the U.S. Lumber Coalition.