The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Natural Resources Minister Jim
Carr says Canadian forest producers have been largely
unharmed by the duties the
United States imposed on softwood imports earlier
this year.
A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe reports that Mr. Carr said the consensus at
a meeting of federal and provincial
forestry ministers on Friday
was the financial hurt thus far
is "not significant."
Canadian producers have paid
an estimated $500-million in
countervailing and anti-dumping
duties since the end of April
but those costs are offset by historically
high market prices for
wood coupled with a low Canadian
dollar and ever-increasing
demand.
In fact, the main people feeling
the pinch are American consumers
who are paying up to
20 per cent more for housing
materials thanks to the duties.
Initially it was felt big Canadian
companies would be able
to withstand the hit but smaller
producers would be forced to
lay people off or even close up
entirely.
That is not happening thus far,
says Mr. Carr, as the best evidence
of that is the fact that
uptake on federal loans and
loan guarantees to help producers
weather the duties has been
limited.
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