Strong market means little uptake yet in govt softwood aid, minister says
OTTAWA — Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr says forest producers in Canada have so far been largely unharmed by the duties the United States imposed on Canadian softwood imports earlier this year.
Carr said the consensus at a meeting of federal and provincial forestry ministers Friday was the financial hurt thus far is “not significant.”
Canadian producers have paid an estimated $500 million in countervailing and antidumping duties since the end of April but those costs are offset by historically high market prices for wood coupled with a low Canadian dollar and ever-increasing demand.
In fact, the main people feeling the pinch are American consumers who are paying up to 20 per cent more for housing materials thanks to the duties.