Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Fascist Oligarchs Attack Cute Cuddly Canadians -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Snowshoe who wrote (81)	8/24/2001 3:52:12 PM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1293

Our cloud a ray of hope for U.S. mills vancouversun.com Washington operator sees turnaround if duty on Canadian lumber stands Petti Fong Vancouver Sun VICTORIA -- As B.C.'s coastal logging operations buckle under a 19.3-per-cent U.S. softwood duty, some American mills are seeing their first glimmer of hope. After years of trimming, Summit Timbers of Darrington, Wash., plans to start hiring again if Ottawa fails in its efforts to have the countervailing duty repealed. A few years ago, Summit Timbers had 400 employees, employing one-third of the town. But as the lumber market shifted and prices dropped, workers were let go and Summit now employs only half that number. "We struggled financially, we struggled as a community, we were in trouble," said Gary Kieland, the company's vice-president of sales. "But now we areaiting to see if there is good news. "We were as reduced and divested as we could be and still remain operating," Kieland added. "If the duty stays, we can stay open." A coalition of U.S. producers won a ruling earlier this month from the U.S. commerce department to slap a tariff on Canadian imports. B.C.'s U.S. lumber exports totalled about $5 billion last year. In reaction, the composite price of western spruce, pine and fir shot up from $297 US per 1,000 board feet the week before the ruling Aug. 10 to $334 by Aug. 17, according to Jeff Redd, an editor with Random Lengths, an industry tracking publication. "The normal reaction is an emotional, kneejerk one, but it should go down," he said. "The market doesn't know yet what affect the duty will have longer-term on the price of lumber." American mills benefit because they don't have to pay the nearly 20-per-cent extra that Canadian lumber costs. Over the past five years, B.C. has more than doubled its share of logs to the U.S., from about 500,000 cubic metres to 1.25 million cubic metres. In the first half of 2001, Canadian lumber shipments to the U.S. increased two per cent over the same period from 2000, says the Western Wood Products Association in Portland, Ore. Butch Bernhardt, the association's director of information services, said Thursday that Canadian shipments to the U.S. also rose sharply in the four months following the expiration of the Softwood Lumber Agreement. "The duty will result in lower volumes of lumber coming from Canada. But the volume of logs coming to the U.S. has increased and will continue to increase with mostly the mills on the border wanting to import." Bernhardt said mills in Washington, Oregon and California will want to import Canadian logs because, unlike lumber products, there are no duties that will inflate their prices. No major changes will occur overnight, but American sawmills do want access to Canadian timber, said Paul Mackie, an area manager for the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association. Mackie is based out of Mill Creek, Wash. His association's membership includes B.C. companies, such as Interfor. Mackie says Canadian cedar is in demand. "The knot free material comes from first growth and there is very little first growth that comes from the U.S. anymore," Mackie said. First growth, also known as old growth, is a higher-grade cedar, as compared with the second- or third-growth available in the U.S., Mackie said.