The value-added arena is very complex. I guess I can illustrate that by pointing to the major trade association that represents the broad spectrum of value-added manufacturers in British Columbia. It's an organization called BC Wood Specialties Group. It's very well-established. It divides its lines of business into, I think, seven different categories, everything from log homes to engineered wood products to cabinetry, and so on. It's a very diverse array of manufacturers and product lines. The only common denominator is sales revenue. You can't aggregate the volumes of output of most of those product lines, so the common denominator is sales.
We focus heavily on exports. I think exports of value-added products, according to the harmonized code, are on the order of $2 billion a year from B.C. That sector has had a real shakeout, unfortunately, since the big collapse in demand in the United States after 2007, and many firms have gone out of business. It seems to have stabilized and is in a rebuilding mode now.
Our perspective out here in British Columbia is rather narrow, because we don't have the hardwood resource underpinning the value-added sector, as you do in eastern Canada. We have virtually only softwoods to deal with, and that situation lends itself to a different array of products and so on. Nevertheless, as I say, the sector is rebuilding and is optimistic.
Its markets from western Canada are overwhelmingly in the United States; secondarily, I would suggest, in Japan; somewhat in Europe; of course, in Canada as well. But promoting the interests of that sector requires quite a different approach from that for promoting the interests of primary producers.