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Paper Excellence is (on paper) a Canadian company. They’ve aggressively purchased other companies to become Canada’s biggest pulp producer and one of its biggest lumber suppliers. But who are they, really?

Investigative reporters from over 40 media outlets looked under the covers for months and found that Paper Excellence has tight ties to Indonesian-owned Asia Pulp & Paper, owned by the Chinese Wijaya family. Its CEO Jackson Wijaya founded the company and bought up Canadian pulp, lumber, and paper mills to become the dominant force – 50% larger than its closest rival Canfor. Part of the money from those acquisitions came from the Chinese Communist Party-owned China Development Bank.

By itself, this isn’t a concern but the ties to APP and the China Development Bank require additional scrutiny. APP is part of the Sinar Mas conglomerate and the Sinar Mars group has been long criticized for tropical rainforest clearing, peatland destruction, and “extensive ties” to companies linked to fires and deforestation in Indonesia. This led to APP losing its certification with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Paper Excellence claims there are no ties but it operated with APP on everything from regulatory submissions to supply and pricing. If they’re just a subsidiary of APP then they could lose their FSC certification.

The Chinese Development Bank is the only mortgage they’ve ever done in British Columbia and is one of the first organizations China uses when it wants to enter a market and acquire resources in another country. Companies owned by foreign interests with Chinese partners could decide to export their production to China and Indonesia. It would be ridiculous for natural-resource-rich Canada to import pulp to make paper – but that could be what happens if their pulp is sent overseas.

Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/paper-excellence-pulp-china-1.6772654

3D printing is an exciting development. Being able to print projects with less machining is inherently more efficient. However, different materials have varying mechanical properties making it difficult to make them perform well in varying conditions.
One potential solution is the use of a cellulose nanofiber plate (CNFP), which has high specific strength, impact toughness, and low thermal expansion. This is superior to typical polymers, metals, and ceramics. And it could be relatively low cost.
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaz1114

I admit I didn’t know much about biochar until recently. You create biochar when burning wood (and other plants) in low-oxygen environments. So what do you do with it? That’s where it gets exciting. The answer is a lot, and it still traps carbon while it’s doing it.

You can mix it in with concrete. You can use it in plastics. You can create a strong industrial composite material from it. You can make ink from it. You can make coffee cup lids. You can use it as a soil amendment. You can use the gas by-product from making biochar in the same way as natural gas.
Source: https://www.rit.edu/sustainabilityinstitute/blog/what-biochar-and-how-it-made

As the disastrous duo of low lumber prices and lack of affordable fiber hammer the wood industry in B.C., we’re seeing additional mill closures on the horizon. Canfor plans to permanently shut down their Prince George pulp line. Canfor will also close its mills in Chetwyndand and Houston. Speculated for permanent closure are Canfor’s Taylor mill, and one of West Frasier’s pulp mills in Quesnel.

B.C. invested heavily in pellet production in the wake of the pine beetle infestation in 2009. With that ready source of fiber gone, pellet mills are competing with pulp mills and sawmills. Pellet mills don’t require as many jobs but consume a large amount of wood.
Source: https://biv.com/article/2023/02/more-mill-closures-inevitable-bc-forest-industry-crisis-deepens

As the Dubai WoodShow is just around the corner March 7-9, 2023 – hardwood lumber companies are gearing up for what will hopefully be another banner year of exports to the Middle East. Total exports of US hardwood lumber and veneer to the Middle East and North Africa region increased by 11% last year.

Source: https://tradearabia.com/news/CONS_406347.html

For decades, the United States and Canada have sparred over whether Canada is dumping lumber in the US and unfairly competing. Since the latest agreement ended in 2015, the US raised tariffs and held them in trust until a new trade agreement is reached. That hasn’t happened yet but the winds are changing. Another agreement isn’t on the horizon for at least another 18 months but if it happens, Canadian producers could get some of the $6.1B USD currently held.
Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canada-softwood-lumber-tariff-refunds/

The lumber industry right-sized last year (2022) following the pandemic boom. Now market pressures on housing are decreasing leading to an increased demand for building materials. This year, the market could find itself in an undersupplied position at the height of the building season.
Source: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/lumber-supply-shortage-outlook-price-surge-homebuilding-season-mortgage-rates-2023-1

Researchers found 1.1 million acres of dead fir trees in Oregon, the most in a single year since surveys began 75 years ago. One of the main reasons they hypothesize was the heat wave that stressed so many trees. Those that weren’t killed by the heat were left susceptible to insects and disease.
With that much standing dead timber, what is the State of Oregon and the US Forest Service going to do about it? If they don’t harvest them, the timber will be ripe fuel for massive wildfires.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/firmageddon-researchers-find-11-million-acres-dead-trees-oregon-rcna59671

In a recent interview, Dave Hampton of Hampton Lumber informs us about government pressure to restrict logging. This restriction lowers the availability of sawmills in Oregon to compete with sawmills in other parts of the country. How much? That remains to be seen. However, expect the supply of logs to drop from both public and private land.
Source: https://newsregister.com/article?articleTitle=hampton-local-sawmills-facing-challenging-times–1673625423–45096–

Much of the lumber sold in the United States comes from Canada. In the Canadian British Columbia Province, forests have been devastated by mismanagement, beetle kill, and wildfires. The forests can’t continue to supply the logs at the previous volumes. Expect massive changes there as they change the way they manage their resources.

Source: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/12/21/news/bc-premier-warns-forests-exhausted-forestry-industry-change