Category Archives: Softwood Lumber Dispute

The U.S. Lumber Coalition is accusing British Columbia of under-charging coastal forest companies for timber harvested on Crown land.

Their argument is based on the claim that the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations hasn’t updated its coastal stumpage data for 3 years.

The US lobby group said the amount of this undercharge is about $70 million a year.

Continue reading »

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is pleased that the Minister of International Trade, Ed Fast, has today announced a two-year extension of the Softwood Lumber Agreement along with the US Trade Representative, Ron Kirk.

“The softwood agreement does provide stability and predictability in terms of getting access to our most important market, the United States,” says the President and CEO of FPAC, Avrim Lazar. “The industry is of the view that at a time of ongoing market uncertainty, it is a good idea to extend the deal by another two years to provide a degree of certainty in market access to the U.S.”

Lazar notes that Canadian forest companies have gone through an economically challenging time with mill closures and the job loss in the face of the global recession and the changing marketplace. The sector has had significant success in diversifying their markets especially in Asia. Wood exports to China have increased by 46 times since 2000 and the sector is now the largest Canadian exporting industry to both India and China. However the U.S. still accounts for about two-thirds of the exports of Canadian forest products.

Continue reading »

The current Canada – US Softwood Lumber Act is set to expire in 2013.

It seems that both countries have agreed to simply extend the current agreement for 2 years, rather than to re-open the controversial legislation.

Today Canada’s Minister of International Trade Ed Fast, is meeting with U.S. trade representative Ron Kirk in Washington, D.C.

Continue reading »

British Columbia‘s lumber producers have filed their statement of defense against the U.S. allegations that Canada is exporting mountain pine beetle lumber at unfairly low prices.

Their statement of defense has been filed before the London Court of International Arbitration. Oral arguments in the case will be heard in February. It is not known when the London Court will render a decision.

The B.C. lumber producers contend that the U.S. is ignoring the devastating impact of the mountain pine beetle on the wood supply in British Columbia’s interior. As well, despite efforts to increase the harvest of beetle-damaged pine, British Columbia’s share of the U.S. market has fallen significantly while offshore export volumes, particularly to China, have grown.

Continue reading »

The British Columbia Lumber Trade Council (BCLTC) commented today on the filing of the U.S. Statement of Case in the arbitration under the Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) on BC interior timber pricing and log grading.

John Allan, President, BCLTC, stated that “while the U.S. submission remains confidential for a week, it is clear from press reports discussing the submission that the U.S. case is without merit and ignores the real facts associated with the devastating impact of the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic on the B.C. Interior.”

For many years, B.C. (and increasingly the U.S. Rocky Mountain forest area as well) has been dealing with the impacts of the unprecedented economic and environmental disaster caused by the Mountain Pine Beetle. Catastrophic damage has been done to the interior pine timber supply resulting in a massive degradation in its quality and value. Harvesting of this timber accelerated over the last few years while it continued to have some value.

Continue reading »

On August 9, the United States will makes its case to the London Court of International Arbitration that British Columbia is subsidizing timber prices for pine-beetle damaged trees.

The London Court of Arbitration is the body Canada and the U.S. selected as the final level of appeal for disputes under the Softwood Lumber Agreement.

The details of the U.S. claim have not yet been made public.

Continue reading »

Canada has decided to comply with the recent softwood lumber ruling and will be adding additional export charges of 0.1% and 2.6% for Ontario and Quebec, respectively.

Last month, the London Court of International Arbitration ruled in favour of the U.S.A. who claimed that Canada broke the terms of a 5-year-old agreement on bilateral lumber trade.

The announcement was made by Peter Van Loan, Minister of International Trade on Friday. The context of his announcement:

Continue reading »

The province of Ontario has released its reaction to today’s ruling:

Ontario is pleased with an international tribunal’s decision to limit an additional export tax on Ontario softwood lumber to only one-tenth of a per cent (0.1 per cent). This is dramatically lower than the 20 per cent the U.S. had originally requested. The tribunal rejected many of the United States’ claims and found that Ontario’s forestry programs had no significant adverse impact on U.S. producers.

A London Court of International Arbitration Tribunal operating under the dispute settlement provisions of the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) ruled the additional tax will be added to softwood lumber exports from Ontario. The U.S. had claimed a violation of the SLA because Ontario implemented certain pre-existing forest sector programs that took the form of grants, loan guarantees or other assistance.

Continue reading »

The London Court of International Arbitration tribunal has ruled that Canada breached its obligations under the anti-circumvention provisions of the Softwood Lumber Agreement and determined compensatory export measures to remedy the breach.

At issue are provincial assistance programs put in place by Ontario and Quebec to assist their sawmills.

The tribunal has ruled that Canada has 30 days to fix the issue by placing additional charges on exports of softwood lumber to the United States originating in Quebec and Ontario. If Canada does not, the U.S. is authorized under the Softwood Lumber Agreement to impose additional import duties on softwood lumber from Canada.

Continue reading »

The British Columbia Lumber Trade Council (BCLTC) has responded to a request by the Office of the United States Trade Representative to seek arbitration under the Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) on matters relating to British Columbia’s interior forest pricing system.

John Allan, President, BCLTC, commented that “the U.S. filing fundamentally takes issue with the damage done to B.C.’s interior timber supply by the Mountain Pine Beetle. The impact on our timber supply has been staggering, as well as the impact on communities, workers and families, companies and the overall provincial economy”, Allan said.

Allan further noted that “the B.C. industry has followed the rules and has acted in accordance with the language of SLA which protects those rules through grandparenting. The SLA provides that so long as B.C. follows the practices and procedures in place the U.S. has no right to complain that the Agreement is being breached.”

Continue reading »