A VANCOUVER-British Columbia company has signed an agreement to provide 100,000 tons of wood pellets to fuel a biomass power plant in Japan, a boost for the province’s struggling forestry industry.

Prime Minister John Horgan said the agreement between Pinnacle Renewable Energy and Mitsui

Pinnacle is already the largest supplier of industrial wood pellets to Japan, and the new contract will increase the company’s production at facilities in Quesnel, Williams lake, Houston, Hickson, Armstrong, Lavington and burns lake.

Horgan said at a news conference Thursday that the agreement would mean more jobs in forest communities and the use of more wood waste that sat on forest floors and fueling wildfires.

Forest Minister Doug Donaldson says in a statement that the end of pine beetle timber harvesting, low lumber prices and an ongoing trade dispute with the United States have created uncertainty in many interior communities.

He says the value of wood pellet exports continues to rise and as communities come together to chart their future, such value-added wood products will become more important.

The canadian press

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