Current EU tariffs for forest products range from 2 per cent to 10 per cent; upon Canada/EU bilateral agreement CETA’s entry into force, all Canadian forestry products will enjoy duty-free entry to the EU, according to Lesprom Network Monday.
The EU is the world’s third largest importer of forest products – US$46 billion in 2015, or 14 percent of global forest product imports that year.
Canada Softwood Lumber Exports to EU: CETA 2016
Canada’s advantage includes areas where EU demand is strong, said Lesprom Network Monday. Key exports from Canada, such as wood pellets, sawn/sliced coniferous wood, chemical wood pulp of coniferous wood, and seat components, have strong demand in the EU.
Canadian companies can benefit from provisions in CETA related to regulatory cooperation, government procurement, temporary entry, and trade in services. Canada will have a preferential trade advantage with the EU that many competitors will not have.
According to Statistics Canada, the main European markets for Canadian softwood lumber in 2015 were UK with 56 thousand cubic meters, Belgium – 64 thousand cubic meters, France – 12 thousand cubic meters. The supplies to EU very small in comparison with export to USA (31 million cubic meters), China (6.5 million cubic meters) and Japan (2.3 million cubic meters).
In 2015 Canada has exported 1.2 million tonnes of wooden pellets to UK, 85.5 thousand tonnes to Italy and 14 thousand tonnes to Austria.