Softwood Lumber Satellite Account, 2013 to 2015
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Released: 2017-03-27
Estimates of the Softwood Lumber Satellite Account (SLSA) are now available for the years 2013 to 2015.
The SLSA provides measures of the size and scope of the Canadian forestry, lumber, and pulp and paper industries that are directly comparable to measures of Canada's gross domestic product and exports of goods. It integrates several data sources into the framework of supply and use tables, and provides detailed information that is not available in other Statistics Canada products.
The value added of the forestry, lumber and pulp and paper industries, as defined by the SLSA, is small relative to the total economy, with an average share of 1.1% from 2013 to 2015. However, these industries account for over 5% of the total value of Canadian exports.
Net trade positive for forestry-related products
Net trade of forestry-related products amounted to over $20 billion annually from 2013 to 2015.
Total exports of forestry and related products increased from $29.3 billion in 2013 to $34.0 billion in 2015. Exports were led by softwood lumber (from $7.4 billion in 2013 to $8.5 billion in 2015), sulphate softwood pulp (from $4.5 billion in 2013 to $5.2 billion in 2015), and paper (from $3.4 billion in 2013 to $3.7 billion in 2015).
Imports were mainly products further down the supply chain, such as converted paper products (from $1.8 billion in 2013 to $2.2 billion in 2015), paper (from $1.7 billion in 2013 to $1.9 billion in 2015) and paperboard containers (from $1.1 billion in 2013 to $1.4 billion in 2015).
Exports of forestry, lumber and pulp and paper products are significant in British Columbia, where they accounted for 23.1% of total exports in 2015. SLSA products are also important exports for New Brunswick (10.8%), Nova Scotia (8.7%) and Quebec (8.6%).
Pulp, paper and paperboard mills largest core SLSA industry
The three largest core SLSA industries (excluding construction) in terms of output were pulp, paper and paperboard mills, sawmills (except shingle and shake mills) and converted paper product manufacturing.
The output of pulp, paper and paperboard mills rose every year from 2013 to 2015 to reach $17.6 billion in 2015. Sawmills (except shingle and shake mills) also saw their output grow each year during that period, totalling $13.2 billion in 2015. Meanwhile, converted paper product manufacturing output grew from $9.9 billion in 2013 to $10.1 billion in 2015, despite a drop in output to $9.5 billion in 2014.
The total output of the logging industries was almost evenly split between contract logging and non-contract logging from 2013 to 2015. Contract logging had the largest share of output in 2013 and 2014, while the non-contract logging share was larger in 2015.
Total output and output shares, logging and contract logging industries, thousands of dollars
Products
Additional information can be found in the document "The Softwood Lumber Satellite Account: Sources, Methods and Preliminary Results".
Contact information
For more information, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
To request data tables, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Andreas Trau (613-951-3466; andreas.trau@canada.ca), Industry Accounts Division
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