This week in Korea, BC Wood’s in-market representative, Mr. JC Lee, has been very active in wrapping up participation and exhibition at the 28th MBC Construction Expo at SETEC in Seoul. One of Korea’s premier building and construction conferences, the MBC show had over 350 exhibitors and approximately 150,000 attendees.

BC Wood worked closely with Canada Wood partners, Council of Forest Industries (COFI) and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), in displaying a unified booth representing Canadian wood product manufacturers. Five companies participated in the event in a joint effort to market Canadian products to the attendees of the event including Korean builders, architects, home-owners, distributors, and material importers. Exhibitors in the booth displayed products ranging from construction lumber to engineered wood timber products. For some companies, participating with BC Wood in the Canadian pavilion marked a first step into the highly competitive Korean market.

In addition to the highly visible space at the show, BC Wood and CMHC coordinated a wood products seminar for members of Korea’s building and construction industry. Member companies had the opportunity to present information about Canadian wood products and company capabilities to nearly 200 attendees at this event.

South Korea’s interest in wood products and construction reflects a strong wood history and affinity for the material. Korean consumers are growing more sophisticated and are looking into higher quality imported products that are environmentally compliant. With growing affluence and ongoing improvements in living standards, Korea is rapidly developing into a market with high potential for both wood frame construction and value-added wood products in the foreseeable future.

For more information about events in the Korean market, please contact David Pao at dpao@bcwood.com

By Brian Hawrysh

Later this year, BC Wood is planning to return to Moscow, Russia with a group of members to participate in the Holzhaus tradeshow, April 9-13th, 2012. These plans still must be approved by BC Wood’s government funders. However, given the early start to the new fiscal year, BC Wood must start now on the initial planning needed to make this event successful.
In November of 2011, BC Wood led a small, very successful trade delegation to Moscow to explore opportunities for value-added wood products in the Russian market and to participate in the Fall Holzhaus trade show.

Over the four days, approximately 11,000 attendees visited this Wooden House exhibition. BC Wood members were able to engage with industry professionals from all over Russia and surrounding countries. Developers, architects, builders, distributors, importers, and designers were all in attendance at the show, many of whom came specifically to the show to speak to the Canadian manufacturers.

BC Wood’s members showcased log home and timber frame structures, factory built homes, high quality millwork, and specialty Western Red Cedar building materials. Wood is an available and accepted building and finishing material in Russia and for BC manufacturers, the opportunity lies with specialty products. After only a short visit to this market, it also became very obvious that the concept of local partnerships was very important as there are many barriers to overcome in order to conduct business with confidence in this country.

Based on approved funding, space will be available for BC Wood members wanting to participate in the Holzhaus trade show. I would encourage any companies interested in more information to contact me at bhawrysh@bcwood.com or in BC Wood’s offices at 604-882-7100 as soon as possible.

Sanding Principles and Finishing Advances Seminar: Practical tips to help your business! – Surrey BC, February 1, 2012

Over the last few years, wood finishing and sanding technologies and practices have evolved considerably. Customers are demanding newer and higher quality finishes, and manufacturers need to find better ways to respond to these changes.

Join us in Surrey on Wednesday, February 1st for this information filled half-day workshop. Participants in this event will learn practical ways to improve their productivity, increase quality, reduce rework and ultimately lower their finishing and sanding costs.

The workshop is hosted by Norman Smith and Brian Ehrecke from FPInnovations. Both individuals have many years of hands-on experience in the industry and are happy to have the opportunity to share their knowledge with others.

As an added feature of this event, both Norman and Brian will be available after the workshop to talk to you about your specific finishing and sanding challenges. Use this opportunity to bring samples of your product and your questions.

For more information, click here

Register for the event by clicking here.

A few ideas, comments, and thoughts that may be of interest to industry…

October was an extremely busy time for BC Wood in the United States with 4 major trade events taking place in the month. Over the next few weeks, I will discuss the events and the potential market opportunities that arose from our participation.

First up was the AIA Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. BC Wood and 5 members participated in the trade event and the following mission in early October. Like most trade events that target the US residential and light commercial construction sector, this show was down in both participation and attendance. This year, 300 plus exhibitors and 1400 attendees were at the event, down by approximately 20% over previous years and is reflective of the reduced construction activity throughout the State of Hawaii. Nevertheless, this trade event still provides the single best opportunity for BC companies to network with builders, developers, and architects across the state of Hawaii and other countries including Guam, Tahiti, Micronesia, and the West Coast of the United States who have projects on the islands.

Following the event, we spent 3 days travelling between the Islands meeting with architects and builders and visiting construction sites, getting a 1st hand account of the market and potential opportunities that are available. The general consensus from builders and architects working on projects in both Maui and Kona is that the market is showing gradual improvement. Also, a belief that there is a pent up demand developing as their clients – ultra wealthy individuals, building luxury vacation homes – are tired of sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the economy to improve. As one builder described it, “the life quality ratio is starting to weigh on his clients”. Essentially, his target market is older, semi retired or retired professionals who have the financial ability to self-finance multi-million dollar construction projects. A number of his clients are weighing the consequences of waiting for the economy to improve vs. their remaining quality of life and have decided to start construction projects that were stalled after the market collapse in 2008. This is likely a problem most of us would love to have, but certainly bodes well for high-end residential construction projects to resume on the Islands.

Another observation that I found interesting, from one of the top residential and commercial builders on the Islands, was the changing demographic in the secondary vacation home market. The big Island of Kona, he suggests with the luxury resorts of Hualolai and Kukio, are where the “old school money” has vacation homes and property; think for example, Charles Schwab. The new rich, those who have made money in Silicon Valley and the Dot Com market, find these resorts stuffy and instead are investing in new developments on the Islands of Maui and Kauai. This builder is banking on the shift in wealth demographic and is expecting to focus on projects on these Islands.

Finally, most experts that we met expected to see good growth over the next few years as the economy continues to improve in the US and across the State of Hawaii. There are a number of projects that are on the drawing board and are expecting to begin construction in the Spring of 2012. I will continue to follow up with the builders and keep you informed when these projects are announced. As always if you have any questions or comments please contact me at dfarley@bcwood.com.

BC Wood has exhibit space available at the 2011 JLC LIVE Residential Construction Show. This show provides exhibitors with a platform to position their products and services in front of 2400 residential construction professionals including builders, remodelers, and general contractors primarily from the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, including Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. In addition to the exhibit floor, the show provides over 50 unique, educational sessions covering a full range of topics from business to construction techniques by industry leaders.

Date: December 7-9, 2011
Location: Portland, Oregon

For more information, please click here or contact Dave Farley at dfarley@bcwood.com.

For over 30 years the Japan Home & Building Show has been one of the most important events in the marketing calendar of foreign companies selling into Japan. However, this year there were many challenges facing the event, some resulting from the 3/11 earthquake while others were self-inflicted.

Several years ago the show organizers decided to change the date of the 2011 show so as to time it with the planned UIA event at Tokyo Forum. I personally expressed my concerns over this numerous times as I have seen how such date changes have hurt other shows. Especially with the JHS’ long history, everyone expects it to take place in November. However, they believed that holding it in conjunction with the UIA event would inject new energy into the show.

These plans were greatly complicated by the March earthquake. By having bumped up the show, the organizers also bumped up the recruiting period of the show to late spring, which was still the dark period when no one knew what tomorrow would bring. As a result, purse strings were tightened and I am sure the JHS had trouble signing up exhibitors.

The earthquake and the nuclear disaster also worried the expected 10,000 overseas UIA attendees. In April there was even talk of cancelling the UIA event. However, they moved ahead with it as the situation in Fukushima gradually improved.

As we set-up for the show, I wondered and worried about how it would turn out. As feared, the attendance fell dramatically, from 87,000 to 43,000. Luckily though the quality of the visitors greatly increased as many more architects came to the show for the first time. This was undoubtedly due to the cross-marketing with the UIA event. We even received many overseas guests who came for the UIA event. Overall, even though the overall numbers were down, we felt just as busy as last year since the architects were spending more time with us asking questions about products.

The other thing that I had been wondering about was how much traffic we would receive related to reconstruction efforts in the Tohoku area. Over the three days, we met with many builders, developers, and distributors from the earthquake/ tsunami affected areas and they seemed to be getting themselves prepared for the big reconstruction projects. I learned that developers from across the region and even other parts of Japan are buying up all the available elevated land near the coast for such projects. However, they are experiencing labour shortages and are thus looking at overseas suppliers that can help with packaged homes and other solutions.

Despite the drop in attendance, our members were very pleased with the results of the show. We were able to make a great number of new contacts including ones involved in the reconstruction efforts. This helps us prepare for the Nikkei Show next March where reconstruction projects will definitely be taking center stage.

For more information on the Japan market, please contact Jim Ivanoff at ivanoff@canadawood.jp

By Brian Hawrysh

BUILDEX Vancouver is one of Canada’s largest trade expositions with over twelve thousand local design and construction professionals expected to attend this year. All under one roof, over 600 exhibits and more than 50 educational seminars address three distinct professional markets:

• Interior design and architecture
• Property and real estate management
• Construction and renovation

The show features products and services related to the design, construction, renovation, furnishing, and operations of all types of commercial and residential buildings. Reports from all of the companies attending last year’s Buildex indicated that all of their expectations were either met or exceeded.

BC Wood will coordinate a consolidated presence of member companies exhibiting at this year’s BUILDEX show, Feb 8-9th at the Vancouver Convention Centre. For more information regarding exhibition space and costs at the show, please contact me at your earliest convenience by email at bhawrysh@bcwood.com or by phone at 604-882-7100.

BC Wood is organizing participation at 28th MBC Construction Expo at the SETEC convention centre in Seoul, Korea from January 27-30, 2012. This building and construction show will have over 350 exhibitors and an expected 150,000 attendees. These attendees will include builders, architects, home owners, distributors, and construction material importers. This trade event offers an excellent opportunity for BC Wood members to tap into the Korean market. Members that would benefit from this event include manufacturers and suppliers of remanufactured lumber products, prebuilt homes, kitchen cabinets, log home and timber frame homes, and engineered wood products.

With a deep rooted history and affinity for building with wood, South Korea remains an important export market for British Columbia’s value-added wood products. In 2010, South Korea represented British Columbia’s fifth largest offshore market with 278,000 m³ of wood product exports. South Korea has experienced strong economic growth and recovery, in light of the recent global downturns, with growing affluence and continuously improving living standards. Korea is far from the labour intensive economy it once was and is now a global leader in design and technological trends. Korean consumers are growing more sophisticated and are looking into higher quality imported products that are environmentally compliant.

For more information about the show, please contact David Pao at  dpao@bcwood.com

A recent wood products conference in Whistler highlighted something that many people already know — that 2011 has been a watershed year for B.C.’s softwood lumber industry.

At Global Buyers Mission, a three day value-added wood sector marketplace, B.C.’s Jobs, Tourism & Innovation Minister Pat Bell said China has for the first time, surpassed the U.S. as top export market for Canada’s softwood lumber.

For the past five years, B.C. and the provincial forest sector, with the support of the Canadian government, have been actively marketing B.C. wood products to China. And it’s paid off: from January to May, B.C. exported 2.8 million cubic metres to China — more than double last year’s volume. Trade missions, demo buildings, technology transfer and conferences like these, are among projects funded to expand China’s interest in the forestry industry.

Hosted by the non-profit B.C. Wood, at the Whistler Conference Centre, Global Buyers Mission invited qualified buyers at more than 75 companies from Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, India and Malaysia and brought them together with a cross-section of B.C. businesses who work in the value-added sector.

Qing Deng, of Shanghai Green Garden Wood Co, China’s biggest buyer of B.C.’s red cedar, yellow cedar and Douglas fir, was one of many businesses whose hunger for wood could collectively be called voracious.

Speaking through a translator, Deng, whose company imports $5 million yearly, says he only buys from Canada, because this is the only place in the world where this high quality wood is available.

Although the conference is held for the value-added sector, (marketers of log homes, cedar shingles, hardwood flooring, texture-surfaced doors, recycled cedar timber frame, laminated beams etc) it’s the ‘grey area’ exporters who are boosting trade stats selling to China.

Source: Coast Reporter – September 21, 2011

For the sixth year in a row, Whistler again hosted a B.C. wood industry conference last week — but a changing demographic in attendees offered an opportunity for resort officials to connect with international delegates interested in the resort.

The 2011 Global Buyers Mission (GBM), organized by the B.C. Wood Specialties Group, took place at the Whistler Conference Centre last Thursday through Saturday (Sept. 8 to 10). The event saw about 700 attendees including buyers from around the world and wood companies from across B.C.

According to organizers, about 70 per cent of buyers, attendees and sellers were participating in the conference for the first time. With the recent decline of American markets for B.C. wood, more buyers came from Asian markets such as China and Korea.

Those are areas Whistler has been trying to reach from a tourism standpoint, and at least one municipal official had the chance to promote the resort to a group of conference attendees.

Mike Vance, RMOW general manager of policy and program development, was asked to speak at the conference on behalf of the Council of Forest Industries, according to information provided by the municipal communications department.

The delegation of China-based land developers was interested to learn if they can build a resort like Whistler and use some of the municipality’s best practices as a model, a spokesperson said. Vance’s presentation focused on Whistler’s success as a resort, including its evolution, leading-edge practices and strong brand.

The group of about 30 people was also taken on a tour of the Whistler Public Library, the Rainbow neighbourhood and the Lost Lake Passivhaus to learn more about green and energy-efficient building features and the use of wood as a sustainable resource.

Whistler is a great place to host the GBM conference because it’s a really good showcase of B.C. wood and its uses, said Mike Cunningham, a representative for the conference.

“Look at the chalets, the residential homes, the construction — even the convention centre itself,” he said.

Besides Whistler’s abundance of wood, keeping the GBM in the resort helps to keep the invitation-only event small in order to keep that face-to-face interaction, according to Cunningham.

“For the buyers and the sellers the real advantage of this conference is that it gives them that opportunity to interact in a little more of a relaxed setting,” Cunningham said.

There was also plenty of opportunity for delegates to enjoy Whistler.

“They go golfing, they go up the gondola. Its spectacular scenery and they love it,” Cunningham said. “A lot of people bring their spouses with them too and compared to being somewhere stuck in a hotel, we intentionally design the conference with a lot of free time.”

It’s important to have the conference each year in order to attract new buyers and allow smaller B.C. companies to sell their B.C. wood products to the large international market, Cunningham added.

“For a large- to medium-sized company trying to sell to a huge market in China, if they have never done business in a place like that before it can be quite daunting for them to jump on a plane and fly over there and start looking for people to buy their product.”

Source: Whistler Question Local News – September 15, 2011