(I’m paraphrasing here)
“trying to sell softwood to china is like trying to sell a fish a bicyle: they live in an a perpetually hot and humid climate which takes a huge toll on softwood structures, causing premature rotting. They can also import longer lasting hardwood at a fraction of the cost from neighbooring Russia. Canadian softwood producers simply see China as this massive dollar sign and don’t give any thought to the value their product will provide…a mistake has and will continue to cost millions.”

A friend of mine’s Dad works at a steel mill in Sault Ste. Marie. He was telling me that the mill is running at full capacity right now because China has such a huge demand for steel. However, China is using this steel to start building it’s own steel industry. Once the industry gets up and running, my friend’s Dad figures the Canadian steel industry is going to be in for some hard times.

While companies like Canfor seem bent on getting products out into China, I would see the Chinese as being more interested in aquiring Canadian milling technologies which would enable them to produce their own lumber/pulp/paper using our raw logs/chips.

The article does nail the idea that there isn’t a wood culture in China. Concrete is King. This is mainly because concrete can be produced locally and cheaply, without relying on imported materials. Furthermore, timber harvesting has been all but banned here, causing China to look overseas for their timber resources (mainly in Indonesia and Russia, where they control several companies). Relying on imports is never a good thing.

I’ve noticed that it doesn’t take much to generate interest in this country. Skepticism is pretty low. If you create a funky image around wood products (using celebrities etc.) people here would literally flock to it. Cool and hip is the key here. Make the herd mentality work in your favor.

I guess I’ve just been reading too many articles on China that say exactly the same thing. “China = unlimited profits but there are some difficulties”…but the difficulties listed are always western-centric, such as “what problems will OUR company face” but they always overlook the notion of what China wants, which is possibly the largest hurdle.

The benefits of using wood are huge, especially products produced in Canada, yet I think the western world generally underestimates how clever the Chinese actually are when it comes to their development.