world news - 12.11.2007
Canada:Strong dollar has negative impact on value of wood products
With the forest industry already struggling,
the value of their products continue to fall in direct relation to the
meteoric rise of the Canadian dollar and companies are looking to the
federal government for more support. ''I think we very clearly need to have a dollar that is more
competitive. Which means that it needs to fall back and we would
certainly encourage the Federal government to take whatever steps are
necessary to decrease the value of the Canadian dollar. It's far too
strong right now, for what we're manufacturing and what we're
exporting.'' Buchanan Forest Products vice president of planning and
development, Hartley Multamaki said Monday. He says the Canadian loonie being worth more than an American
dollar, has the Canadian economy, especially the manufacturing sector,
in a difficult situation. ''The bulk of the products we produce go into the U.S.market place
and that's why it's so challenging when the U.S. dollar weakens the way
it has, or the Canadian dollar goes up in value. We sell in U.S.
dollars, the bulk of our product and it has a direct relationship, or a
direct impact on the value of our product, when the U.S. dollar falls.'' Multamaki says manufacturers can't adjust to the high Canadian
dollar fast enough, when it's increased so much in such a short time
and he says this strong dollar is going to change the dynamics of the
industry.
See also:
- — World’s oldest trees grow in California
- — Is the party over for Swedish sawmills?
- — Continued price increases for Swedish forest land
- — Revolution looming in lumber industry
- — Experts look to timber as next generation energy source
