MOREX

POLYMER COATED WOOD DECKING.

Patent Pendino

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And you getapieceof the synthetic deck mafuet.

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Lines run approximately 20 times faster than extrusion lines.

Great Southern Opens 8th Plant

Great Southern Wood Preserving, Inc., recently celebrated its 30th anniversary with the opening of its eighth treating plant, in Columbus, Tx. The 60-acre facility in Texas Crossroads Business Park features a four-acre warehouse.

Last year, the company opened a 40-acre facility with a 6' x 80' cylinder in Statesboro, Ga., and acquired an llacre facility with a 7' x 72' cylinder in Memphis, Tn., from Memphis Wood Preserving.

Other plants are in Abbeville, Mobile and Muscle Shoals, Al.; Conyers, Ga., and Sumter County, Fl.

Sides Drawn As Softwood Pact Ends

A volatile issue that aroused varying degrees of passion, the U.S.-Canadian Softwood Lumber Agreement was set to expire March 31, concluding a five-year pact that limited Canada's duty-free softwood lumber exports to the U.S. to 14.7 billion bd. ft. annually.

As the expiration approached the eleventh hour, many believed the already-tense situation could become even more acrimonious, perhaps resulting in a full-scale trade war between the two countries.

The 1996 pact, covering Canada's four major lumberproducing provinces, designated that fees be charged once a quota was reached. Since then, both nations have claimed the deal hurt their industries. Some U.S. producers, such as Rusty Wood, owner of two Georgia mills, view the accord expiration as being harmful to the U.S. lumber industry, due to a potential influx of inexpensive Canadian lumber.

Wood, chairman of the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, said times are tough enough for the industry, noting that lumber prices are down and U.S. workers are losing jobs. "I'm just a guy wanting to survive,"' he said, adding that he has 300 families relying on him to stay in business. "(The Coalition's) mantra is if they would just sell their timber competitively, we go away," he said.

The Coalition prefers a new agreement that would tax all Canadian softwood lumber based on its value. Canadian producers, with support from U.S. retailers and builders, are calling for free trade and removal of the 14.7 billion bd. ft. cap and the tariffs.

"We understand that demand is down, prices are down and that mills are facing a very tough time," said former Ontario Premier Robert Rae. "But, no amount of rhetoric is going to make the United States self-sufficient in lumber."

At press time, Canadian Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick were meeting to discuss the matter, but had yet to indicate any progress. This was on the heels of a letter signed by 5l U.S. senators which urged President Bush to negotiate a new agreement. Pettigrew did admit, however, to have been asked by the British Colombian forest industry to consider a U.S. suggestion for a Canadian tax on lumber.