First quarter earnings for Canada’s largest timber companies dipped due to a fall in the value of the Canadian against the US dollar, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The Global Forest & Paper Industry Net Earnings Summary says the Canadian dollar’s fall resulted in pre-tax foreign exchange losses on US dollar denominated debt of C$97m.
During the same period in 2003, Canadian producers enjoyed a pre-tax gain of C$618m.
In contrast, US producers experienced a rise of more than 400% in net earnings to US$817m, compared to US$161m in 2003.
Seven of the largest European-based forest and paper companies reported net earnings of €586m during the first quarter – a 50% increase on the previous year.
