Canadian Sawmill Jobs At Risk As Softwood Lumber Deal Appears To Fade: Analyst
MONTREAL — Canadian jobs and sawmills across the country are increasingly at risk because of fading prospects they will avoid a new round of U.S. duties on imported softwood lumber, according to an industry analyst.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Paul Quinn says he expects the United States will impose duties of at least 25-per cent in mid-2017 and that will put pressure on Canadian producers.
“They’ll be mills shut right across Canada because nobody’s making the kind of money that they’d have to pay in the duties,” Quinn said in an interview.
He expects at least five mills to be affected in British Columbia but declined to say how many sawmills or jobs could be impacted in other provinces.