Why B.C.’s lumber industry may need to go metric to survive

With Canadian lumber producers facing sustained U.S. duties and tariffs, sawmills in British Columbia are increasingly under pressure to reduce their reliance on the American market and develop alternative export destinations. North America is now the only major lumber market that continues to rely on imperial measurements. Expanding sales into offshore markets would therefore require further adaptation of logging and sawmill operations to metric standards—an adjustment that some B.C. mills have already partially implemented. As export markets in Japan and China show limited growth potential, Canadian lumber producers are being pushed to redevelop markets beyond ...