The Softwood Lumber Satellite Account: Sources, Methods and Preliminary Results

Executive summary

  • This report describes the preliminary release of the Softwood Lumber Satellite Account (SLSA) for reference years 2013 to 2015. The SLSA presents a supply and use table at purchaser prices that provides detail on core industries and products related to the Canadian forestry sector, while aggregating all other industry and product detail.
  • The SLSA situates the size and scope of several forestry-related industries and products within the economy as a whole. It integrates several Statistics Canada data products into the coherent macroeconomic framework of a supply and use table.
  • The 2013 figures have been benchmarked to the published Canadian supply and use tables (CSUTs). The 2014 and 2015 figures have been benchmarked to the income and expenditure gross domestic product aggregates from the Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts (CANSIM tables 384-0037 and 384-0038).
  • The industries of interest range from loggers through to lumber, pulp and paper processing and finally, construction. These industries cover the major producers and users of products related to Canada's forestry sector. Specifically, NAICS 113, 115, 23, 321 and 322 are included.
  • The products of interest range from logs through to lumber and panels and on to secondary converted paper products whose production ultimately depends on feedstock primarily originating in Canadian forests. Several core services, such as log harvesting and construction activities, are also included.
  • The SLSA data differ from the Annual Survey of Manufacturing and Logging – Principal Statistics data. The differences are conceptual and methodological in nature. The SLSA uses the same concepts, classifications and structure as the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts. Therefore, SLSA results are directly comparable with macroeconomic measures such as total economy gross domestic product, total output, exports, and final demand.
  • The SLSA differs from the Natural Resources Satellite Account (which has a forestry element). The SLSA is built along industry lines (NAICS) whereas the NRSA is an activity-based compilation. Both accounts provide useful perspectives on the forestry sector.
  • Gross value added from forestry-related industries increased in the years studied and amounted to roughly $20 billion per year. This $20 billion accounts for slightly more than 1% of Canada's total gross domestic product. In 2015, exports totalled more than $30 billion and imports totalled roughly $10 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of over $20 billion. Softwood products (of all types) were far more important than hardwood products in terms of gross added value. Contract loggers are extremely important components in the sector.

Background

Canada has the third-largest forested area in the world. It supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, and many billions of dollars in GDP and exports.Note 1 In this way, Canadian forests form the backbone of a large amount of economic activity. It begins with harvesting activities, where raw products are extracted from the forests, employing loggers, transporters, silviculture experts and tree farmers. The products continue through complex supply chains involving lumber producers, wood pellet manufacturers, particleboard and plywood makers, and pulp and paper mills. End users across Canada and the throughout the world benefit. Canadian lumber is used to build our homes, Canadian wood waste is used to heat our homes, and Canadian pulp produces the paper and packaging we see every day.

Canadian forestry supply chains have evolved to ensure that very little of what is harvested goes to waste: the right log for the right purpose. A "saw log" is different from a "pulp log." Sawdust is different from wood shavings, which are different from wood chips. Pulp made from softwoods has different characteristics than pulp made from hardwoods. Logs can be turned into lumber (of a variety of grades for a variety of uses), telephone poles or fence posts. Sawdust can be burned in boilers or used to make particleboard. Wood chips go to pulp mills. Planer shavings can be used for animal bedding. Canadian industry has evolved to make every effort to ensure that the maximum benefit is extracted from the harvested resource.

Management of Canadian forests is the responsibility of provincial governments. Each province takes a slightly different approach to how its forests are managed, though most have "tenure systems", i.e., mechanisms to impart rights to access a given area and harvest from it. Manufacturing end users in each province have also developed different means of acquiring their product. For example, in Nova Scotia, private land plays an important role in supplying products.Note 2 In British Columbia, nearly 100% of harvested products come from provincial Crown land. However, BC Timber Sales manages nearly 20% of the annual allowable cut, allowing for relatively easy access to the forests for smaller, short-term uses.

The diverse products originating in Canada's diverse landscape of forests, combined with a highly regulated environment for extraction, makes this a very complicated sector on which to generate statistics.

The Softwood Lumber Satellite Account

Statistics Canada produces a wealth of information on the forestry sector and its many supply chains. Statistics related to jobs, output, imports, exports and investment can be found among the many statistical products it releases. The Softwood Lumber Satellite Account (SLSA) complements this information by bringing it together in a consistent national accounting framework. In this way, the SLSA enables us to better understand the size, scope and evolution of the industry and place it in the context of the size, scope and evolution of Canada's total economic activity.

Supply and use tables

The SLSA is constructed as a supply and use table.

Supply and use tables (SUTs) are a powerful tool with which to compare and contrast data from various sources and improve the coherence of the economic information system. They permit an analysis of products and industries at a very detailed level within a consistent, internationally recognized economic measurement framework.Note 3

SUTs articulate the supply and uses of all products in the economy. A stylized version is shown in Table 1. The supply of a product can originate from domestic production or imports and is expressed in purchaser prices (the price paid by the final consumer of the good) after including margins for transport, trade, sales taxes and tariffs.

There are four broad categories of uses of products. Products can be used by businesses for the production of other goods or services (intermediate consumption); by households, government or non-profit institutions for final consumption; by businesses or governments as an asset for ongoing production (investment or capital formation); or to satisfy non-resident demand via exports.

Table 1: Stylized supply and use table
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 1: Stylized supply and use table Supply and Use (appearing as column headers). This table contains no data.
  Supply Use
Domestic Production Imports Margins Intermediate Consumption Final Consumption Capital Formation Exports
Products              

In addition to presenting a complete articulation of product balances in the economy, SUTs bring together three different approaches to calculate gross domestic product (GDP):

  1. The production approach, where gross value added is the balancing item after subtracting intermediate inputs from output.
  2. The income approach, where GDP is calculated as the sum of the various types of returns to the factors of production—for example, operating surplus of firms and compensation of employees.
  3. The expenditure approach, where GDP is measured using the basic macroeconomic formula, GDP = final household consumption + investment + government consumption + exports – imports.

By bringing together the three GDP measures and the product balances, SUTs allow us to compare the share of foreign demand and the share of domestic demand. We can examine how goods are produced. We can link this information with labour market data to understand jobs and compensation. We can build multipliers to understand the impacts of shocks on the economy. In short, SUTs are the most comprehensive analytical tool with which to examine the activities of a nation's economy.

Industry, product and final demand classifications

Table 1 is constructed along two general dimensions: a "product" dimension, expressed in the rows of the SUT, and an "industry and final uses" dimension expressed in the columns. The benchmark Canadian supply and use tables (CSUTs) use the Supply and Use Product Classification (SUPC) for products, the Input-Output Industry Classification (IOIC) for domestic producers and intermediate consumption, and the Supply and Use Final Demand Classification (SUFDC) for disaggregating capital formation and final consumption. Each of these classifications is anchored to an International or North American standard classification system:

  • SUPC the North American Product Classification System (NAPCS)
  • SUPC the Harmonized System (HS) for trade
  • IOIC the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
  • SUFDC COICOP for Final Consumption Expenditures by households

The SLSA is composed of 17 industries and 9 final demand categories. There are 57 products (including value-added components). Table 2 shows the relationship between the SLSA industries and their counterpart in the benchmark CSUT. The SLSA industries disaggregate three CSUT industries along NAICS lines, creating 10 new industries.

Table 2 – Concordance between Core CSUT and Satellite Account industries
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 2 – Concordance between Core CSUT and Satellite Account industries. The information is grouped by CSUT-IOIC Code (appearing as row headers), CSUT-IOIC Title, SLSA Industry Code, NAICS 6-Digit and SLSA Industry Title (appearing as column headers).
CSUT-IOIC Code CSUT-IOIC Title SLSA Industry Code NAICS 6-Digit SLSA Industry Title
BS113000 Forestry and logging BS113110 113110 Timber tract operations
BS113210 113210 Forest nurseries and gathering of forest products
BS113311 113311 Logging (except contract)
BS113312 113312 Contract logging
BS115300 Support activities for forestry BS115300 115310 Support activities for forestry
BS321100 Sawmills and wood preservation BS321111 321111 Sawmills (except shingle and shake mills)
BS321112 321112 Shingle and shake mills
BS321114 321114 Wood preservation
BS321200 Veneer, plywood and engineered wood product manufacturing BS321211 321211 Hardwood veneer and plywood mills
BS321212 321212 Softwood veneer and plywood mills
BS32121A 321215 Engineered wood product manufacturing
BS32121A 321216 Engineered wood product manufacturing
BS32121A 321217 Engineered wood product manufacturing
BS321900 Other wood product manufacturing BS321900 Several Other wood product manufacturing
BS322100 Pulp, paper and paperboard mills BS322100 Several Pulp, paper and paperboard mills
BS322200 Converted paper product manufacturing BS322200 Several Converted paper product manufacturing
BS23A000 Residential building construction BS23A000 N/ATable 2 note Residential building construction
BS23B000 Non-residential building construction BS23X000 N/ATable 2 note Construction (except residential building construction)
BS23C100 Transportation engineering construction BS23X000 N/ATable 2 note Construction (except residential building construction)
BS23C200 Oil and gas engineering construction BS23X000 N/ATable 2 note Construction (except residential building construction)
BS23C300 Electric power engineering construction BS23X000 N/ATable 2 note Construction (except residential building construction)
BS23C400 Communication engineering construction BS23X000 N/ATable 2 note Construction (except residential building construction)
BS23C500 Other engineering construction BS23X000 N/ATable 2 note Construction (except residential building construction)
BS23D000 Repair construction BS23X000 N/ATable 2 note Construction (except residential building construction)
BS23E000 Other activities of the construction industry BS23X000 N/ATable 2 note Construction (except residential building construction)
All other supply-use industry codes   OTHERIND   All other industries
Table 2 note †

Construction industries are not directly equivalent to NAICS in the CSUT. Rather, they are defined by the type of asset produced. In this way, construction is considered "activity-based" in the CSUTs.

Return to the first Table 2 note referrer

The expansion of CSUT-IOIC BS113000 allows the activities of contract loggers to be analyzed separately from those of non-contract loggers. Given the system of forest management in Canada, this separation of activities is of analytical value. Tenure holders are given the right to harvest a certain amount of trees from a given area for a predetermined period of time. In other words, they are given ownership rights over the materials. However, many of these companies employ "contract loggers" to gather and transport the logs from the forest area to the mill that requires the material (e.g., a sawmill or a pulp mill). These harvesting companies do not themselves "own" the logs they harvest. Their revenues are earned by selling a "service." In contrast, companies in the non-contract logging industry are assumed to own the logs they harvest, and thus earn revenue by selling a log.

The expansion of CSUT-IOIC BS321100 allows for the isolation of the activities of sawmills, without mixing the input or output patterns or value added ratios of the other industries contained in the CSUT industry. Although these other NAICS are of relatively lesser size for most provinces, their outputs and inputs can be sufficiently different in nature to make it useful to distinguish their figures.

Finally, the expansion of CSUT-IOIC BS321200 allows for the distinction between hardwood and softwood panel producers and those producing other types of engineered wood products.

Table 3 provides a link between the CSUT products that are disaggregated in the Satellite Account. For the most part, it distinguishes between the hardwood and softwood varieties of the corresponding benchmark CSUT products. This facilitates the analysis of these two very distinct types of forest products.

Table 3 – Concordance between Core CSUT and Satellite Account products
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 3 – Concordance between Core CSUT and Satellite Account products. The information is grouped by CSUT-SUPC (appearing as row headers), CSUT-Description, Satellite Product and Detailed Title (appearing as column headers).
CSUT-SUPC CSUT-Description Satellite Product Detailed Title
MPG113001 Logs MPG113001H1 Hardwood logs and bolts (except fuel wood and pulpwood)
MPG113001S1 Softwood logs and bolts (except fuel wood and pulpwood)
MPG113002 Pulpwood MPG113002H1 Hardwood pulpwood
MPG113002S1 Softwood pulpwood
MPG113004 Rough untreated poles, posts and piling MPG113004H1 Rough untreated poles, posts and piling of hardwood
MPG113004S1 Rough untreated poles, posts and piling of softwood
MPG321103 Wood chips MPG321103H1 Hardwood chips
MPG321103S1 Softwood chips
MPG321201 Veneer and plywood MPG321201H1 Hardwood plywood
MPG321201H2 Hardwood veneer
MPG321201S1 Softwood plywood
MPG321201S2 Softwood veneer
MPG321908 Wood products, n.e.c. MPG321908H1 Hardwood flooring
MPG321908H2 Hardwood cut stock and dimension and other hardwood millwork products
MPG321908S1 Softwood flooring
MPG321908S2 Softwood cut stock and dimension and other hardwood millwork products
MPG321908X1 Sawn wood fence stock and wood lath, wood mouldings and other wood products, n.e.c.
MPG321X00 Waste and scrap of wood, wood by-products MPG321X00H1 Hardwood sawdust
MPG321X00H2 Hardwood shavings
MPG321X00S1 Softwood sawdust
MPG321X00S2 Softwood shavings
MPG321X00X1 Waste and scrap of wood
MPG321X00X2 Hog fuel
MPG322101 Wood pulp MPG322101H1 Sulphate hardwood pulp (including soda)
MPG322101S1 Sulphate softwood pulp (including soda)
MPG322101X1 Other wood pulp
ENE32A000 Solid fuel products, n.e.c. ENE32A000X1 Fuel products of wood waste
ENE32A000X2 Other solid fuel products, n.e.c.

There are 28 other products within the SLSA but these products are equivalent to the products in the benchmark CSUT. They include contract logging services, hardwood and softwood lumber, as well as paper and paperboard products, among others.

The nine final demand categories delineate household final consumption (PEC00), non-profit institution and government final consumption (CE000), gross fixed capital formation (GFCF0), changes in inventories (INV00) and trade: international exports (INTEX), international re-exports (INTRX), international imports (INTIM), interprovincial exports (IPTEX) and interprovincial imports (IPTIM).

Data sources and methodology

The SLSA is based on two key Statistics Canada data products: the Annual Survey of Manufacturing and Logging (ASML)Note 4 and customs and balance of payments data from the International Accounts and Trade Division (IATD). The ASML is the core information used to build the industries in the SLSA (other than the construction industries). The IATD data are used to generate international imports and exports estimates.

To generate the SLSA industry estimates, ASML information must be transformed and adjusted to align with macroeconomic concepts. This introduces differences between what is published as part of the ASML principal statisticsNote 5 and what is captured in the Satellite Account. Conceptually, the Satellite Account covers operating activities, whereas several of the ASML principal statistics include non-operating revenues and expenses. Furthermore, valuation adjustments are made to inventories in national accounts, which are not made in the survey data. Methodologically, some items are combined and presented differently. For example, finished goods inventory changes are netted out against sales revenues as part of Satellite Account output. Purchases of goods for resale are netted out against sales of goods for resale and called a margin output in the SUT.

The Satellite Account incorporates published ASML and IATD data for all reference years. For reference year 2013, the benchmark CSUTs were used to anchor the estimates and provide the contextual information for the economy as a whole. For 2014 and 2015, the benchmark CSUTs were not available, so GDP aggregates from the Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts were relied upon to anchor the economy-wide totals.Note 6

Once the industry estimates are generated and benchmark GDP information has been compiled, the remaining elements of supply and use are added: trade and transport margins and taxes on products, international and interprovincial imports and exports, household and government consumption, and investment information. Each of these elements begins with source information and then allocates to products using concordances. For example, international trade data are primarily sourced from customs data collected using the Harmonized System (HS). The HS is at an even more detailed level than the Satellite Account products and is thus merely a process of aggregating data.

Once initial estimates have been generated and the data have been adjusted to international macroeconomic accounting concepts, the data are integrated into the supply and use framework and two key accounting identities are reconciled:

  1. Supply = use, across all products; and
  2. Outputs = inputs, for each industry.

In practice, source data and estimation methods do not generate estimates that satisfy these constraints. These constraints are satisfied through an iterative process known as product balancing.Note 7 During this process, the strengths and weaknesses of all data sources are assessed and adjustments are made to reconcile the different sources of information. By the end of this process, inconsistencies have been identified, feedback has been made to source data providers and the constraints have been satisfied. The result is a completely coherent set of information for the industries and products compiled.

Quality assurance in the SLSA

The product balancing technique is one of several key data quality assurance practices and procedures undertaken in SUT compilation. Others include:

Ensuring enterprise coherence

In a statistical system, large companies are generally divided into operating segments whose data are collected from different sources (e.g. surveys). Aggregate survey data can be cross-checked with corporate tax filings or a company's annual reports to ensure that the trends and levels are coherent and that they conform to expectations concerning the trends.

Confirming industry dynamics

When company financial information is aggregated and converted to national accounting concepts, the ratios of inputs to outputs can be compared in either real or nominal terms. The expectation is that these ratios should not change dramatically over a one-year period (certainly in real terms) without a significant economic event accounting for the change (e.g., exit or entry of a significantly different firm, technological change, large variations in relative prices of inputs or outputs).

Analyzing time series

Since the SUTs are compiled with tremendous detail, one can compare many different series over time. Do total outputs change dramatically from one year to the next? Can price fluctuations account for these changes? Does a certain input or output product change over time? If so, have the production processes of the dominant companies changed? Do output volumes follow a trend similar to that of export volumes? In all cases, viewing each of these elements independently, then cross-checking against secondary sources, greatly enhances confidence in the underlying data.

Comparing with external information

All the above checks can be done with reference to external information as well. Annual reports, company websites, association websites and news articles all describe the economic events of a given year and can help shed light on the trends presented by source data.

Results

The SLSA provides a wealth of information at a detailed level. What follows are just some of the possible tabulations from the account. The added value associated with the core SLSA industries (BS113, BS1153, BS321, BS322, i.e. excluding construction and all other industries) is small relative to the total economy.

Table A1
Value added, core SLSA industries (excluding construction and all other industries), thousands of dollars
Table summary
This table displays the results of Value added 2013, 2014 and 2015 (appearing as column headers).
  2013 2014 2015
Value Added Forestry and Related Core 20,410,218 20,692,003 22,226,634
Value Added Total Economy 1,777,213,062 1,858,113,000 1,855,439,000
Value Added Share 1.1% 1.1% 1.2%

However, this view might understate the importance of this added value; when we look at the value of exports, we see that the sector contributes over 5% of the total economy exports.

Table A2
Total exports, core SLSA products, thousands of dollars
Table summary
This table displays the results of Total exports 2013, 2014 and 2015 (appearing as column headers).
  2013 2014 2015
Total Exports Forestry and Related 29,267,641 31,913,399 34,046,064
Exports Total Economy 543,809,590 626,019,059 626,969,754
Share of Exports 5.4% 5.1% 5.4%

As a share of total output, again, the core industries represent a relatively small share of the total output of the economy.

Table A3
Total output, core SLSA industries (excluding construction and all other industries), thousands of dollars
Table summary
This table displays the results of Total output 2013, 2014 and 2015 (appearing as column headers).
  2013 2014 2015
Output Forestry and Related Core 62,725,725 66,133,142 68,747,044
Output Total Economy 3,353,163,046 3,658,815,309 3,686,395,636
Output Share 1.9% 1.8% 1.9%

The value added across the core industries nears $20 billion and is increasing over the time period. The value added to output ratio remains relatively stable.

Table A4
Value added and ratio-to-output – Core SLSA industries (excluding construction and all other industries, thousands of dollars
Table summary
This table displays the results of Value added and ratio-to-output – Core SLSA industries (excluding construction and all other industries 2013, 2014 and 2015 (appearing as column headers).
  2013 2014 2015
Value Added 20,410,218 20,692,003 22,226,634
Value Added Ratio 33% 31% 32%

The importance of contract loggers is highlighted in the following table, where their output exceeds that of non-contract loggers in two of the three years studied.

Table A5
Total output and output shares, logging and contract logging industries, thousands of dollars
Table summary
This table displays the results of Total output and output shares 2013, 2014 and 2015 (appearing as column headers).
  2013 2014 2015
BS113311 – Logging (except contract) 4,408,253 4,616,673 5,045,647
BS113312 – Contract Logging 4,974,886 5,270,118 4,873,763
BS113311 – Logging (except contract) 47% 47% 51%
BS113312 – Contract Logging 53% 53% 49%

International exports increased strongly over the period, with gains experienced by most provinces. The provincial distribution highlights the clear concentration of the exports originating in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.

Table A6
International exports by province and provincial shares, core SLSA products, thousands of dollars
Table summary
This table displays the results of International exports by province and provincial shares – Core SLSA products. The information is grouped by Province (appearing as row headers), 2013, 2014 and 2015 (appearing as column headers).
Province 2013 2014 2015 2013 2014 2015
Newfoundland and Labrador 121,700 170,121 166,735 0% 1% 0%
Prince Edward Island 546 2,114 2,300 0% 0% 0%
Nova Scotia 562,435 607,642 639,352 2% 2% 2%
New Brunswick 1,610,322 1,660,026 1,727,752 6% 5% 5%
Quebec 7,891,830 8,709,671 9,291,092 27% 27% 27%
Ontario 4,375,118 4,861,845 5,483,521 15% 15% 16%
Manitoba 352,321 418,239 423,741 1% 1% 1%
Saskatchewan 453,139 430,696 433,591 2% 1% 1%
Alberta 2,552,579 2,748,593 3,124,990 9% 9% 9%
British Columbia 11,346,944 12,304,174 12,752,658 39% 39% 37%
Yukon 686 274 326 0% 0% 0%
Northwest Territories 21 4 5 0% 0% 0%
Nunavut 0 0 1 0% 0% 0%
Canada 29,267,641 31,913,399 34,046,064 100% 100% 100%

The following table highlights the importance of the SLSA commodities in terms of a province's total exports. For British Columbia, these products are a very important share of total exports.

Table A7
SLSA products as a share of total provincial international exports by province
Table summary
This table displays the results of SLSA products as a share of total provincial international exports by province. The information is grouped by Province (appearing as row headers), 2013, 2014 and 2015 (appearing as column headers).
Province 2013 2014 2015
Newfoundland and Labrador 0.9% 1.2% 1.6%
Prince Edward Island 0.1% 0.2% 0.2%
Nova Scotia 9.0% 8.5% 8.7%
New Brunswick 10.7% 10.8% 10.8%
Quebec 8.9% 8.7% 8.6%
Ontario 2.1% 1.9% 2.0%
Manitoba 2.5% 2.7% 2.5%
Saskatchewan 1.4% 1.2% 1.4%
Alberta 2.3% 2.1% 3.0%
British Columbia 23.7% 23.2% 23.1%
Yukon 0.2% 0.1% 0.1%
Northwest Territories 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Nunavut 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Canada 5.4% 5.1% 5.4%

As expected, sawmills are the dominant portion of NAICS 3211. When split in the Satellite Account, the other industries represent less than 10% of value added for the group.

Table A8
Value added and value added shares, thousands of dollars
Table summary
This table displays the results of Value added and value added shares 2013, 2014 and 2015 (appearing as column headers).
  2013 2014 2015
BS321111 – Sawmills (except shingle and shake mills) 3,626,320 3,673,835 3,806,598
BS321112 – Shingle and shake mills 124,330 124,473 121,795
BS321114 – Wood preservation 218,711 191,841 229,771
BS321111 – Sawmills (except shingle and shake mills) 91% 92% 92%
BS321112 – Shingle and shake mills 3% 3% 3%
BS321114 – Wood preservation 6% 5% 5%

Canada is a large net exporter of forestry-related products. Our imports are primarily products further down the supply chain; for example, converted paper products (MPG322209) range from $1.8 billion in 2013 to $2.2 billion in 2015, paper (MPG322102) ranges from $1.7 billion in 2013 to $1.9 billion in 2015 and disposable diapers and feminine products range from $0.6 billion in 2013 to $0.8 billion in 2015.

Table A9
International exports and imports of core SLSA products, thousands of dollars
Table summary
This table displays the results of International exports and imports of core SLSA products (excluding all other industries) 2013, 2014 and 2015 (appearing as column headers).
  2013 2014 2015
International Exports 29,267,641 31,913,399 34,046,064
International Imports 10,803,645 11,674,258 12,851,092

As expected, the value of Canadian production of softwood logs far outweighs that of hardwood logs. The dominance of softwood over hardwood products occurs in every product split along these lines.

Table A10
Output of logs – All SLSA industries, all provinces, thousands of dollars
Table summary
This table displays the results of Output of logs – All SLSA industries 2013, 2014 and 2015 (appearing as column headers).
  2013 2014 2015
MPG113001H1 - Hardwood logs and bolts (except fuel wood and pulpwood) 255,315 183,809 221,405
MPG113001S1 - Softwood logs and bolts (except fuel wood and pulpwood) 3,295,843 3,246,018 3,277,062

Softwood chips are an extremely important input into the pulp and paper industry. They are valued at over $2 billion and make up over 20% of total intermediate inputs.

Table A11
Intermediate use of softwood chips (MPG321103S1) in the pulp and paper industry (BS322100), thousands of dollars
Table summary
This table displays the results of Intermediate use of softwood chips (MPG321103S1) in the pulp and paper industry (BS322100) 2013, 2014 and 2015 (appearing as column headers).
  2013 2014 2015
Value 2,246,509 2,636,799 2,804,241
Percent of Intermediate Inputs 21% 23% 23%

Overall, the sector is small relative to total national economic activity, but its importance as an export sector is more significant and this significance varies across provinces. In terms of both output and exports, softwood products are far more important than hardwood products, although there are dedicated mills processing all types of products extracted from Canadian forests.

The SLSA provides detailed information on the sector that is not available in other official statistics. It provides more granular information for certain industries and products and it situates the sector in the context of total economic activity. It provides a better understanding of the structure of the sector and how this varies from one province to another. Many more observations and tabulations can be generated from the SLSA to expose the complexity and interconnectedness of the Canadian forestry sector. Readers are encouraged to explore the detailed tables accompanying the release.