No Longer A 'Sunset' Industry, Canfor's President Predicts Bright Future For Forestry

February 22, 2012

Securing foreign markets, investing in infrastructure and technology, and searching high and low for the next generation of workers interested in forestry as a career: Those are just some of the things Canfor President and CEO Don Kayne says the company is working on.

Kayne gave a glimpse into Canfor's future plans in his remarks at the Growing the North Conference.

Kayne says there are many reasons the Grande Prairie operation is a key element in Canfor's re-investment strategy.

 "This particular mill has always been a real key mill for us. From a product mix point of view it's very well connected to our customer base world-wide it's a really solid fibre base up here and of course it's a very optimum place to operate in as well." 

A year ago, Canfor announced a $300-million re-investment program -- $50-million of that went to the Grande Prairie mill.

Kayne says with access to markets in China, the western Canada forestry operations ship 30 to 35-percent of their products there, and that kind of market demand has kept at least 15 mills operating in this country that would've otherwise been shuttered thanks to the US housing market implosion.