PLYWOOD AND PARTICLEBOARD 



In addition to the high level of expansion in our pulp and paper industry, a 

 similar prosperity has been enjoyed by Ontario's plywood and particleboard indus- 

 tries. Undaunted by disastrous fires to three of our largest poplar plywood plants: 

 Cochrane Enterprises Ltd., Cochrane; A & L Plywood Products Ltd., Chapleau; 

 and Levesque Plywoods Ltd., Hearst (all of which are being rebuilt on an 

 expanded basis) this remarkable young industry is supplying an ever increasing 

 share of the plywood required in construction projects in eastern Canada. The 

 entry into this field of Weldwood of Canada, a subsidiary of the giant U.S. Ply- 

 wood Corp., promises to give this new industry even greater stability. Weldwood 

 is building a new $2 million plywood mill at Longlac to utilize 25,000 cords of 

 poplar and produce 45 million sq. ft. of plywood {Va in. basis). With this and 

 other mills operating at full production, Ontario's poplar plywood industry will 

 require 130,000 cords of wood annually and will have the capacity to manufacture 

 236 million sq. ft. of plywood i}A in. basis) per year. 



Rexwood Products Ltd., New Liskeard, one of Ontario's largest particle- 

 board manufacturers is currently doubling production and will ultimately use 

 about 36,000 cords of wood annually. 



LUMBER AND DIMENSION 



Significant strides have also been made in the development of Ontario's 

 lumber industry. Of particular importance has been the continued increase in the 

 use of sawmill residues to manufacture pulp chips. The equivalent of 325,000 

 cords of pulpwood were produced as a by-product of the sawmilling industry in 

 1964 — an increase of 23% over the year previous and there is every indication 

 that this trend will continue. This volume of chips is enough to supply a large 

 pulpmill with its full wood requirements. 



With the prospects of a continued high demand for new housing and summer 

 cottages throughout North America and with the rapid acceptance of our type of 

 housing in Europe, the outlook prospects for increased lumber production in 

 Ontario has not been brighter since the days of the early white pine lumber indus- 

 try. It is expected that the bulk of any increased production will be in the form 

 of 2 X 4's manufactured from small diameter spruce and jack pine logs. Accord- 

 ing to mill licence returns, Ontario's lumber industry produced more than 779 

 million board feet during 1964. 



While the prosperity of our softwood lumber industry is on the upswing, 

 our hardwood lumber industry is experiencing difficulty in providing the furniture 

 and other secondary wood using industries with the volume of high quality lumber 

 that they would like. The establishment of hardwood dimension plants which can 

 produce high quality wood parts from the clear sections of poor quality logs 

 shows promise of relieving this situation. 



SUMMARY OF VOLUME AND VALUE OF WOOD 

 CUT BY SPECIES 1963-64 



The high level of industrial activity, particularly within the lumber industry, 

 is reflected in the volume of wood cut from Crown land the year ending March 

 31, 1964. Approximately 360 million cubic feet were cut with a value of $12.5 

 million which represents an increase of 14.3 million cubic feet and $450,000 in 

 revenue over the previous year. The most substantial increase took place in the 

 Kapuskasing District where there was an increase of 13.9 million cubic feet in 

 the volume of sawlogs cut. 



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