I will move quickly. Thank you for this opportunity and for accommodating us in this way by video conference
I'm going to talk quickly about three things: the importance of the forest sector to the economy of British Columbia, the industry's view with respect to the softwood lumber agreement and the U.S. market, and the continued importance of market diversification to B.C.-based companies.
First, British Columbia is the country's largest producer of softwood lumber, accounting for about 52% of overall production in this country. B.C. is home to five of the largest forest companies in the world. Certainly, West Fraser, Canfor, Tolko, Interfor, and Western Forest Products are names that are synonymous to you, I'm sure, with the forest industry in this country.
The forest industry in B.C. contributes about $12 billion annually to provincial gross domestic product. It generates $2.5 billion worth of revenue directly to three levels of government, federal, provincial, and local. Some 31% of all B.C. manufacturing sales are from the forest industry and 24% of all of British Columbia's manufacturing jobs are in the forest sector.
In terms of jobs in British Columbia, one of every 16 jobs in British Columbia is tied to the forest industry. That's 58,000 direct jobs and about another 100,000 indirect jobs. In fact, 40% of B.C.'s regional economies are dependent on forestry.
We exported $11.7 billion worth of forest products in 2013. Softwood is B.C.'s second largest export commodity. The United States is still our biggest trading partner with $2.6 billion in softwood lumber alone in 2013. China would be our second biggest market, as Mr. Jeffery has pointed out, at $1.5 billion.
It is very important to understand an important contextual piece in British Columbia, and that relates to timber supply. No doubt you are quite familiar with the devastating mountain pine beetle crisis that we have experienced in British Columbia. About 60% of all pine trees in British Columbia were wiped out. That means that the annual allowable cut in British Columbia is now on a steady decline in the interior of the province. This year we generated about 11.6 billion board feet of lumber. We expect that number to be 9.7 billion board feet by 2020, owing to the timber supply challenge that we face as a result of the mountain pine beetle crisis.
A word about the U.S. market and softwood lumber: the U.S. remains the most important wood market destination for B.C. It was about 49.5% of exports in 2013. That's about $3.8 billion worth of wood exports, softwood lumber, and other products. The softwood lumber agreement, as you know, governs that trade relationship. It was signed in 2006. It was extended in 2012, and it will expire in October 2015. There is a standstill provision in which the U.S. has undertaken not to launch a trade action for a period of one year, which would take us to October 2016.
Industry across British Columbia and across the country is united in its view that the current agreement with the U.S. should be extended. By that we mean it should be renewed in its entirety for another seven-year term with the option to renew for another two years. We've had strong support from the Canadian government in representing that view to the United States. We're of that view because we feel that the softwood lumber agreement has worked. In our view, both countries have benefited from managed trade. Past disputes have certainly been lengthy. They have been very costly.
We think it has created greater certainty for producers on both sides of the border since 2006, and in so doing has brought value and stability to the marketplace, that is, our customers. We believe it has provided a platform for the North American industry to work together with the U.S. to grow the U.S. market. That's through a mechanism called the Softwood Lumber Board, which is a binational group. The duties that have been imposed have helped to protect the U.S. industry in down markets, which was a key objective certainly of the U.S. in participating in that dispute. In fact, Canada's share of the U.S. market in 2006 was 34%. Today it's about 29%, and at the same time, the U.S. share of the lumber market in their own country has grown from about 61% to 71%.
It's important to note that in B.C., as the largest producer in Canada, our interior production is forecast to decline by 17% in 2020 as a result of the mountain pine beetle. It's a very important factor that I'm sure people on both sides of the border will be thinking about as we enter into a new phase on softwood lumber.
I think another very important point to make is to link this to the work of the Canada Wood Group, which Mr. Jeffery has talked about, that we have been doing as an industry in partnership with the federal government and the provincial government in expanding offshore markets. In 2005, British Columbia sent less than 120 million board feet to China. In 2013, that volume had grown to 3.35 billion board feet. The importance of making that market real and strong and a consistent place for us to put product is a very important part of our strategy going forward.
I'll quickly round out with some comments on the importance of China and the offshore. B.C. has become the leading market player in China, and we've gotten that place already with very hard work between provincial and federal governments and industry, and are able to grow demand for our wood products.
In 2010, we became the largest supplier of softwood lumber with a 48.7% market share. China now accounts for 26% of our total volume of exports, worth $1.5 billion. From my perspective, the growth in offshore markets is a key piece, as we think about the softwood lumber agreement. We've managed to keep our share of the U.S. market at a level well below the thresholds that are built into the agreement at 34%, in the work that we have done in a large part by growing that Asian market. In that respect, the SLA has been a contributor to the growth of those offshore markets. We're there to stay, and it's vitally important that together we continue to work to grow those markets and ensure that, as an industry, we don't become more reliant on the U.S. market. We think we're trending in the right way. We're continuing to be committed as an industry to growing that Asian market, and we would encourage the federal government to continue its support for that for many years to come.
Thank you very much.