Crow's Weekly Market Report Estimates 5% Reduction in Canadian Duties for Softwood Lumber Could Save BC Producers $7.5m in May

BOSTON,  April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Crow's Weekly Market Report (Crow's), today reported that as a result of continually rising US lumber prices, the export duty for Canadian softwood lumber has been lowered from 15% to 10% for the month of May. Crow's, published weekly by RISI, the leading information provider for the global forest products industry, indicated that this reduction is due to the terms of the Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA), which regulates the inter-country trade of softwood lumber between the United States and Canada. Benefits to Canadian producers go beyond the actual reduction in duty fees, as they now are able to justify a corresponding 5% reduction in discounts that they had previously been offering to Canadian customers. Key questions that US producers are asking aloud, is whether or not Canadian producers will ramp up production and flood the US market in an effort to capitalize on lower duties while they last -- a possibility that if realized could send lumber prices downward, something that neither Canadian nor US producers would like to see.

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Gary Zauner, Editor of Crow's Weekly Market Report, commented, "Lurking in the weeds is a threat that has the potential to wipe out any savings from reduced duties, the exchange rate. This is important because within a very short time, the savings from having to pay 5% fewer taxes could be all wiped out." Zauner continued, "All we would need to see is a simple jump of 5 cents in Canadian dollar strength and that entire $7.5 million in duty savings would be gone. Of course, a simple swing of 5 cents in US dollar strength would make those savings much greater."

About Crow's Weekly Market Report

Crow's Weekly Market Report -- part of the Crow's Market & Price Service is the longest-running source of prices in the North American softwood lumber and panel industry. Crow's provides objective wholesale pricing and detailed market reports designed to give a quick but accurate understanding of each week's market.

Crow's Weekly Market Report is published weekly. Yearly subscriptions are available now for $595 -- to order or for more information, please visit www.risi.com/crowsprices.

About RISI

RISI is the leading information provider for the global forest products industry. The company works with clients in the wood products, timber, wood biomass, pulp and paper, tissue and nonwovens industries to help them make better decisions.

Headquartered in Boston (Bedford), Massachusetts, RISI operates offices in Brussels, Belgium; Atlanta, Georgia; San Francisco, California; Portland, Oregon; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Shanghai, China; Singapore; and Charlottesville, Virginia. More information can be found at www.risi.com.

SOURCE RISI