Canadian Timber Harvest Up 14% in Five Years, Driven by Lumber Production

Seattle, WA, October 15, 2015—Canada harvested an estimated 137 million m3 of industrial roundwood, which was 1.3% more than in 2013 and 14% more than in 2010. According to analysis by Wood Resources International, a large majority of the harvested trees, almost three-quarters, were softwood sawlogs destined for the sawmilling industry predominantly in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec.

A major share of harvested hardwood trees is small-diameter logs used by the pulp mills and OSB manufacturers in Alberta and the Eastern provinces. Hardwood harvest levels have been fairly stable at around 20 million m3 for a number of years, while softwood harvests have been steadily climbing following the global financial crisis. From 2008 to 2014, softwood log removals in Canada increased by 24%.

The biggest changes in log usage the past five years have been the increased use of softwood sawlogs for lumber production, and the higher consumption of hardwood logs by the OSB industry. In 2014, WRI estimates that 72% of the total harvest was consumed by softwood sawmills, 17% was logs destined for the pulp industry and the remaining 11% was logs to be used by the wood panel sector and for exports.