A BC Timber Sales manager for the Kootenay-Boundary admits they may have a hard time selling wood in the coming months as local mills cope with additional U.S. tariffs.
George Edney told Castlegar city council this week that his organization, which manages and auctions 20 per cent of the timber on Crown land, will have sales opening next week in the Boundary.
“We’ll just see how they go, because we’re a little bit nervous with Interfor,” Edney said in response to a question from councillor Shirley Falstead. “We’ll see if they bid on them.”
Interfor has curtailed its Grand Forks operations indefinitely due to “persistently weak market conditions.” The Castlegar operation was planning four or five days of minor downtime, mostly around holidays and weekends.
Edney said if the wood they offer in the Boundary doesn’t sell at the upset price, they can drop the price and try again, or they can withdraw it altogether, although typically they want the wood in the market.
“We could be running into some real big problems in terms of trying to sell our volume in the coming months,” he said. “We’ll have to see how it’s going to play out. The third and fourth quarters are going to be really interesting.”
Canadian softwood producers are subject to 35 per cent anti-dumping duties on U.S. exports, to which a new 10 per cent tariff will be added next week. Edney said it is having a “major” impact on local operators, despite the fact lumber prices are rising. He expected there could be further shutdowns.
Edney said the 581,000 cubic meters that BC Timber Sales sold in the Kootenays in 2024-25 was more than the Kamloops, Okanagan, or Cariboo regions, which they attribute to diversity of tree species and clients.
Their target volume for 2025-26 is 715,000 cubic metres. In the first quarter, they sold 102,000, while they fell short of their goal of 123,000 in the second quarter. They are projecting 195,000 for the third quarter and 295,000 for the fourth quarter.
Edney, who has been been with BC Timber Sales for 21 of the 22 years it has existed, appeared with two other managers. He said it was the first time they have come to Castlegar council as a delegation.
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