Forestry and forest products contributed $2.2 billion of real gross domestic product to Alberta’s economy in 2018. That’s about 0.7 per cent of total provincial output, according to ATB Financial’s economics and research team.
In the financial institution’s The Owl, daily economic update, it said Alberta’s share of the national forestry and forest product sector is about 10 per cent. British Columbia has the largest share at 31 per cent, followed by Quebec (28 per cent) and Ontario (19 per cent).
“As of 2017, there were 18,880 Albertans working in the forestry and forest products sector. Of these, about 56 per cent worked in the wood product manufacturing sub-sector. Around 27 per cent worked in forestry and logging or provided support services to it. Paper manufacturing accounted for the remaining 17 per cent of workers,” said ATB.
“International forestry and forest product exports totalled $4.1 billion last year. Just over half (53 per cent) of this was paper products, with wood products making up the other 47 per cent. The United States brings in 67 per cent of Alberta’s total forestry and forest product exports, followed by China (17 per cent) and Japan (seven per cent).”
– Mario Toneguzzi
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