The end product delivered to consumers is a vital aspect of forest
management. Much work is put in to determining how Ontario, it
citizens and companies can realise the maximum amount of value for each
tree harvested. Extensive sawmilling, pulp, paper, and plywood
industries exist in Ontario. The Ontario forest sector also
produces a wide array of high value paper and wood products such as
structural building components engineered to meet building
specifications. In the last century, forest products manufacturing
in Ontario has grown into an increasingly complex process that turns
standing timber into countless forest products.
A common distinction is made within the forest products manufacturing sectors between
Wood products - industries manufacturing lumber, plywood, veneer, and other re-manufactured or engineered wood products; and,
Pulp and paper products - establishments that manufacture pulp for use in paper production, and/ or paper products
Within these categories further distinctions are possible between
products commonly referred to as either primary (i.e. commodity) or
secondary (i.e. value-added) products. This distinction is made
according to the amount of processing required to manufacture the end
product. The term value-added is also used to denote products that
command higher values in the market place based on the amount of wood
they use. For example, dimension lumber and newsprint are
considered primary products whereas structural building components that
use primary products are considered value-added.
It must be recognised that forest products occupy a spectrum along
which the amount of labour, additional materials and capital required to
deliver end products differ greatly. In recent years value-added wood
products have grown to occupy an ever increasing share of Ontario's wood
products exports. Still, primary products are fundamental to the forest
sector, and provide the foundation to which value is added through
secondary processing.
The following sections provide a detailed overview of the numerous sub-sectors that comprise the Wood Products Manufacturing Sectors and the Paper Products Manufacturing Sectors. These descriptions are based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) used by Industry Canada.
