BC Wood Industry Trade Mission:

B.C. Forests Minister Doug Donaldson is back from his first wood industry trade mission to China and Japan, an annual journey I was fortunate to go on last year. … Nanjing is the commercial centre of Jiangsu province, where the Chinese central government has ordered a pilot project to phase in wood and engineered wood, starting with roof trusses and pre-fabricated infill walls for concrete buildings. They’re working with B.C.-developed wood construction because “it’s energy efficient, it’s green, it’s light, it’s fast,” says Rick Jeffery, chair of the national industry group Canada Wood and a veteran of Asia trade. This is important in a vast country that is not only choked with pollution, it’s running low on limestone, a key component of concrete.  …In a phone call from the Tokyo stop last week, Donaldson said once the government decides on an action, “things happen quickly in China.”