What better way to see ‘all’ of Canada (and ‘bits’ of the USA at the same time) than to meet it half way? By popping along to the Montreal Wood Convention you could have done just that! Rescheduled to lessen the chance of being hit by adverse weather conditions, the event was blessed with glorious sunshine rounded off by snow and freezing rain.
But it came too late to deter the crowds; the jam-packed event attracted 92 exhibitors and 750 registered delegates (with only 25 no-shows) from North America and overseas. And there was most certainly something for everyone, starting with the option, for overseas visitors, of the customary mill visits or, for those preferring a later breakfast, afternoon hardwood seminar.
Not surprisingly at both facilities we visited – one softwood, one hardwood – there was the inevitable reminiscing, back to other ‘sunny’ days not all that long ago when business with the UK was plentiful and profitable for all concerned which was followed closely by the genuine expression of desire to see a return to those more halcyon days in the not-too-distant future.
Days 2 and 3 were structured so that delegates could be involved in everything, with the trade show not open until after all the seminars finished.
The seminars started, on the Tuesday afternoon with the hardwood industry market seminar.
Whilst not drawing any conclusions, AHEC’s Michael Snow’s presentation ‘American Hardwood Exports and the Globalization of the Forest Products Industry’ did throw up some very interesting facts with regard to the UN-ECE FAO 2009-2010 Forest Products Annual Market Review including growing concern that the US hardwood resource is now being severely underutilised; growth to removal ratio for hardwood for 2012 was 2.4:1; and mortality before harvesting leads to the release of 160 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.
He also highlighted one issue we will be faced with on an ongoing basis – as the wood sector, including AHEC, look to new markets and to increasing wood’s market share – and that is the besmirching campaigns coming out of competing materials sectors. Some of them just can’t stop themselves knocking wood! Economy, Markets and Marketing looked at impacts of the global economy, influences of the housing sector and, of course, the Canada-USA Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA). Brendan Lowney’s presentation 'Housing And Lumber Market Rebound Will Be Strong But Not Imminent' outlined how US housing starts were in the early stages of a multi-year recovery and home prices were near "fair value". After bottoming in late 2015, lumber prices have trended higher but this is unlikely to continue, concluding that “adding it all up, there is not enough production in North America to meet demand, so exports must fall”.
Carl Grenier's presentation 'Softwood Lumber Trade: Is the Past Prologue?' showed that the SLA was the "worst trade deal Canada ever made", with the country providing "all of the cushion in North America for falling markets". He said the direct cost of the SLA since 2006 had been C$4.7bn.
It was quite a surprise receiving a round of applause from the audience and the Mr Grenier after voicing my thoughts on the situation. My point was – why is it that so many within the forest products sector do not have the sagacity to look beyond their immediate surroundings?
But the highlight was 'Social Media Rocks… Even for Wood Products!' Christian Dussart urged the wood products sector to take full advantage of social media, demonstrating that platforms like Twitter and Linkedin could help business. He said research had found that companies with an active blog generated 67% more leads, while using Twitter can result in achieving double the amount of leads per month. Linkedin, he added, generated more leads than Facebook, Twitter or blogging.
Overall, this proved to be a high-profile, well-supported and well-attended-event.
