Forest industry for our province | Council of Forest Industries

BC’s forest sector is locally grown

The forest industry has long been the cornerstone of the provincial economy and one of the largest employers in B.C. The industry is adapting, evolving and innovating, and continues to be one of the most significant economic drivers in the province.

140,000 jobs are tied to the forest industry, which is equivalent to one in every 17 B.C. jobs

The forest industry is the primary employer in many communities throughout the province with 140 communities in B.C. dependent on the industry. The forest industry is one of the highest paying industries in the province, and directly employs more than 60,000 people. Many of these jobs are located outside of major urban centres, where the lower housing costs allow people to enjoy a higher standard of living. Notably, across the province, 140 communities also rely on the forest industry and are considered forest dependent through their mills, community forests, or significant logging operations.

The global forest industry is very capital-intensive, and B.C.’s industry is no different. B.C.’s forest industry invested $650 million in new capital expenditures in 2016, not including maintenance capital, and is expected to continue that level of investment annually over the next five to ten years. Over the past ten years, the industry invested on average $1.5 billion annually in both strategic capital and maintenance.

B.C.’s forest industry contributes $12.9 billion to the provincial GDP every year

B.C.’s forest industry is one of the major drivers of the provincial economy, and is the largest forest products industry in North America. The B.C. forest industry generates $33 billion in output and $12.9 billion in GDP. Additionally, the sector contributed $4.1 billion in payments to municipal, provincial and federal governments from forest industry operations. That figure includes $1.4 billion to the federal government, almost $200 million in taxes to municipal governments, and $2.6 billion to the B.C. provincial government in the form of provincial taxes, stumpage, payments to BC Hydro, annual rent, logging taxes and fees. This revenue is key to providing essential public services to British Columbians such as education, health care and infrastructure.

As a major exporter, the forest industry is an important consumer of B.C. transportation infrastructure services such as ports, warehousing, railways, trucking, towing, barging and associated support services, with forest products representing over 21% of all traffic through the Port of Vancouver, 46% of the container traffic through the Port of Prince Rupert, and nearly 11% of total rail traffic across Western Canada.