WHEREAS coastal log exports increased 65 by volume from 2010 levels to 6,348,674 m3 in 2013 and the coast represents 90.6 of total log export volume in the province of BC; AND WHEREAS the coastal forest industry has grown dependent upon log exports with unintended consequences to the manufacturing sector: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that the provincial government re-examine the Log Export Policy and the impact this policy has on the coastal forest industry, and that the provincial government investigate options for modifying the Log Export Policy in light of the increased coastal log exports over the last several years.
Ministry of Forests, Lands Natural Resource Operations The provincial government would prefer for all logs to remain in BC for domestic use; however, permitting limited log exports is a critical component of the coastal forest sectors economic health. All logs are offered for domestic sale first but may be exported when there are no domestic bidders, often at premium prices. This in turn allows more logs to be harvested to meet both domestic and international market demands. BC is the only province to have a domestic surplus test. Following a severe recession in 2008-09, a low volume of timber was exported in 2010. Since the log export review began in 2011 and policy changes were made in 2013, the coastal harvest has recovered to 2006-07 levels. Domestic mills benefit from the larger harvest volume, and both manufacturing and log exports have been in stable proportions for the last four years. After a comprehensive policy review, we revised the fee-in-lieu for log exports in March 2013 to a sliding scale that recognizes the difference between the export price and domestic price for a log. In 2014, log exports on the coast were about 31 per cent of the total harvest, resulting in approximately 30 million in log export fees. Province-wide, the volume of public timber exported as logs constitutes less than ten percent of the annual harvest of public timber.