The first ever New Brunswick forestry products delegation will be travelling to China Saturday to take advantage of the massive insatiable economy.
Ivy Wang, a trade consultant, says the Chinese market is very large and changing so quickly that New Brunswick will have to act fast. "We need an action plan for industry," she says.
Wang, who owns Atlantic Business Network, says China lacks wood and has traditionally imported 80 percent of their forestry products from Russia. But high Russian export tariffs imposed on lumber mean much higher costs for Chinese buyers and big opportunities for the New Brunswick forestry industry.
"These tariffs have opened the doors to Canadian imports. It's a longer distance for the wood to travel but Canada has the added advantage of a more stable industry and more consistent customer service," Wang says from Shanghai.
The fact-finding mission will include representatives from government and industry with the aim to lay down foundations for future relationships with customers.
Business New Brunswick Minister Victor Boudreau says China is such a large market that the province needs to be one of the first in the door.
"We want to make as many connections as possible," he says. Boudreau was in China in January of this year. "There was a lot of interest in New Brunswick forestry products," he says.
British Columbia already exports logs and lumber to China but with such a tremendous manufacturing and building potential there is room for New Brunswick, Boudreau says.
Mark Arsenault, president and chief executive officer for the New Brunswick Forestry Products Association says New Brunswick needs to diversify.
"Right now 70 per cent of our products are sold to the United States," he says. The recent economic downturn slammed the forestry sector and Arsenault says New Brunswick needs to look to alternative markets.
He hopes to bring back specifics on distribution channels, quality expectations and basics of how wood is measured and used, he says.
Arsenault hopes to return with enough information that the next mission will see New Brunswick forestry companies signing contracts in China.
In November the Chinese city of Shanghai adopted Canadian building standards that use wood.
This could mean an exponential increase in the demand for Canadian wood.
Shanghai is traditionally the test site for China wide policies, Ivy Wang says. If it works in Shanghai the policies are often adopted across the country. In a country with 1.3 billion people and many of those people living in government housing this could mean a massive shift to the use of wood in buildings.
She says many municipalities are in the process of updating their millions of apartment structures and are looking at wood as the best alternative.
The Chinese have traditionally built their homes using concrete but the devastation caused by recent earthquakes has caused the government officials in Shanghai to rethink the practice, Wang says.
But it's not just the wood that the Chinese will be looking for from Canada. Very few people are trained as carpenters in China, Wang says.
Right now building firms in China can send their employees to receive the training free of charge courtesy of the Canadian government, she says. That need for expertise will only increase.
Business New Brunswick, the New Brunswick Forest Products Association, the Maritime Lumber Bureau and Cambium Cabinets will be on the delegation from May 15-23.The group will travel first to Shanghai and then they will attend one of the world's largest wood products trade shows in the world in Linyi, China.