According to the 2022 State of Canada’s Forest Report, Canada’s wood product manufacturing output nearly doubled from $9.99 billion in 2016 to $19.82 billion in 2021.
The annual report released by Canada’s Ministry of Natural Resources demonstrates the positive impact a strong forest and wood products industry has had on Canada’s economy.
The wood product, logging and pulp and paper industries combined to contribute $34.8 billion to Canada’s nominal GDP in 2021, according to the report.
That represents an impressive 53% increase over the 2016 total of $22.7 billion and an 87% increase compared to the 2011 total of $18.6 billion.
According to Statistics Canada, there were nearly 7,300 secondary woodworking establishments in 2020. More than 5,800 of these operations produced household and institutional furniture and kitchen cabinets. What’s more, their payrolls totalled approximately $2.2 billion.
The forest sector is a key to Canada’s economy and a source of well-being and prosperity for communities and workers from coast to coast.
The forest sector, according to the report, accounts for about 205,365 direct jobs across the country and:
- Generates more than $2.3 billion in revenue for provincial and territorial governments.
- Exports nearly $45 billion of forest products and accounts for 34.8 billion of Canada’s national gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021.
Jobs in the forest sector are 48 per cent in wood product manufacturing, 28 per cent in paper manufacturing, 17 per cent in forestry and logging and seven per cent in support activity for forestry and logging.
Production of solid wood products increased between 2020 and 2021. Softwood lumber production increased by 2.3 per cent, and production of structural panels increased by 7.7 per cent. In the pulp and paper subsector, printing and writing paper production increased by 7.4 per cent in 2021, while wood pulp and newsprint production decreased by 0.2 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively.
• The strong demand for solid wood products in 2021 was due to elevated home construction and residential renovation activity in both Canada and the United States, prompting mills to increase production where possible.
• In 2021, production of printing and writing paper recovered slightly from a significant decline in 2020. However, production remained below pre-pandemic levels as pulp and paper manufacturing has lagged in recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Transportation supply chain challenges had a negative impact on forest sector production and was worsened by various floods, landslides, wild res, and weather events across the country.
Forest sector employment
In 2021, Canada’s forest sector employed 205,365 people, an increase of almost 10% from 2020. The increase is due to the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Employment in the wood products manufacturing subsector recovered to pre-pandemic levels because of positive market conditions. Due to a slight downturn toward the end of 2021, employment in the wood product manufacturing sector declined slightly as mills curtailed operations, partially because of shipment delays that were exacerbated by wildfires and flooding in British Columbia.
In recent years, employment in the pulp and paper manufacturing subsector declined as consumers continued to switch to digital media and reduce their demand for newsprint and printing and writing paper.
In 2021, employment returned to its pre-pandemic level. Employment increased in 2021 for in-forest activities such as nursery operations, tree planting, and timber cruising and logging, but remains slightly below pre-pandemic levels.
You can read the full report here.
