From The Daily Herald Tribune (Alberta, Canada), by Neal Talbot
Alberta forest products are increasingly being aimed at international markets other than the United States, says Alberta Sustainable Resource Development Minister David Coutts.
With crippling U.S. softwood duties gouging more than $1 billion annually out of Canadian forestry companies, Coutts said the provincial government and forest companies are pushing hard to develop new non-U.S. markets for products.
"We're looking at sending more (Alberta forest products) to markets across the world that are a little friendlier," said Coutts, while in Grande Prairie to plant a tree in front of the Grande Prairie Christian school to celebrate Arbor Day.
"And I think you're going to see more and more products sent internationally in the near future."
The minister points out Alberta Economic Development and Alberta Forest Products Association continue to develop new markets abroad for provincial forestry products.
As efforts to solve the Canada/U.S. softwood lumber dispute continue to stall, Coutts said more effort is being made to diversify Alberta's forestry products and customer base.
From May 22, 2002, to Dec. 20, 2004, most Canadian softwood lumber exported to the U.S. was subject to a combined countervailing and anti-dumping duty of 27 per cent. As of Dec. 20, 2004, the duty has been reduced to 20 per cent, but the duties have cost Canada almost $4 billion since being introduced in 2002.
Canada has taken a two-track approach in the dispute - litigation and negotiation - but neither has produced significant results. Even recent World Trade Organization and NAFTA rulings against the American duties have been unsuccessful in getting them dropped.
Coutts said the U.S. duties have given the province's forest companies little choice but to look for other international customers.
"We have to take those products and sell them to other countries," he said.
"We'd like to have a better relationship with the U.S. but it's strained right now."
A major sticking point in the lumber battle is the continued American unwillingness to abolish the so-called Byrd amendment despite a WTO ruling that it violates international trade law.
The Byrd amendment allows American companies deemed to have been injured by allegedly subsidized Canadian imports to receive proceeds of the tariffs.
That would see Canadian lumber exporters subsidize their American counterparts to the tune of nearly $4 billion. Currently the duties are being held in trust by U.S. Customs until a slew of legal challenges is completed.
Coutts also called provincial forest practices "a sustainable industry that isn't just living for today," hours after the Sierra Club released a report stating Alberta needs to improve its forest practices and treatment of old-growth forests.
Alberta's forest sector generates annual revenues of more than $8 billion and provides nearly 54,000 jobs for Albertans.
