Canada’s plywood and OSB manufacturers have seen a pick-up in demand as Canadian homebuilders work to meet demand in disaster-struck Japan for pre-engineered shelters, reports the Canadian Press (CP).
Many of Japan’s wood panel mills were located in the area devastated by the March tsunami, resulting in a shortage, according to Gerry Van Leeuwen of International Wood Markets Group.
“About 35% of Japan’s domestic plywood industry was wiped out or seriously damaged by this whole disaster ¬– about 35%, 40% of Japan’s plywood industry happened to be located in this part of Japan,Mr Van Leeuwen told The Vancouver Sun.
“So their domestic supply of plywood has been hugely impacted negatively. At the same time they need a lot of this stuff.”
The Japanese government estimates that about 4,700 homes were totally destroyed, 2,500 were half destroyed and 56,000 were partly destroyed or damaged.
Selco Homes – the Japanese partner of Viceroy Homes Ltd of Port Hope, Ontario – is among about 20 large builders bidding for work in Japan; it expects to secure about 10% of the 100,000 single-family homes that will be required in the next three to five years, CP reports.
Canada’s leading OSB suppliers to Japan are Ainsworth Lumber Co and Tolko Industries Ltd.
