The British Columbia government announced Thursday changes to the Manufactured Forest Products Regulation (MFPR) around export requirements for sawn-wood products and lumber made from western red cedar or cypress go into effect Sept. 30, 2020. These changes are intended to increase the amount of processing of wood products done within British Columbia, leading to more B.C. jobs, rather than having that processing done after export.
Under the current MFPR, logs that are squared off up to a maximum dimension of 0.2 square meters (17 x 17 inches) are classified as sawn-wood product and can be exported without further manufacture.
Under the amended MFPR, the maximum dimension of lumber to be considered a sawn-wood product will be 0.1 square metres (approximately 12 inches by 12 inches). This will require further domestic processing of lumber prior to being eligible for export. Additionally, the regulation amendments will require that in the Coast area, lumber that is made from western red cedar or cypress must be fully manufactured.
“The additional information provided by the Government includes the application of a tax on Western Red Cedar and Cypress exported from the Coast of British Columbia within 3,000 miles from British Columbia. The amount of the tax varies depending on the extent of processing applied to the lumber before it is exported.” — Western Forest Products press release
Products that do not meet these new criteria will require a provincial export permit and payment of a fee in lieu of manufacture to be eligible for export.
MFPR, introduced in 2003, defines the criteria that products must meet to be considered manufactured under the Forest Act. Under the current regulation, logs that are squared off up to a maximum dimension of 0.2 square metres (approximately 17 inches by 17 inches) are categorized as a sawn-wood product and may be exported without further manufacture.