Canada lumber sales to China soar in 2010

Lumber sales to China from British Columbia skyrocketed last year and a top official in Canada's largest timber-exporting province believes it can continue to grow despite increasing US competition.
Forestry firms in the western Canadian province shipped 4.6 million cubic meters of softwood lumber products to China in 2010, a 76 percent increase from 2009, according to figures from BC's Ministry of Forests, Mines and Lands.
Total lumber sales to China were valued at C$687 million ($694 million) in 2010.
Forestry Minister Pat Bell believes the province can sell as much as 5 million cubic meters in 2011, although he expects the growth rate will tail off a bit in the fourth quarter of 2010.
December's sales of C$107 million ($108 million) were higher than all of 2003, when the province launched a campaign with industry officials to enter the Chinese market.