Logging, 2017
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Released: 2019-02-27
$9.8 billion
2017
-0.0% 
(annual change)
Revenue from all logging activities totalled $9.8 billion in 2017, essentially unchanged (-$4.4 million) from 2016. Logging (except contract) accounted for $5.0 billion, while contract logging accounted for $4.8 billion.
Total salaries and wages increased 1.1% in 2017. They amounted to $0.5 billion in the logging (except contract) industry and $1.1 billion for contract loggers. They therefore represented a larger proportion of total expenses for contract loggers (22.9%) than for loggers (9.8%). This difference can be partly explained by the fact that while the loggers are by definition logging on an own-account basis, they also hire subcontractors, which results in some of the salaries and wage expenses being hidden under subcontract fees.
For all logging activities, the cost of materials and supplies decreased 0.7% or $36.2 million in 2017 to $4.9 billion. They accounted for 36.0% of total expenses for contract loggers, while they represented 60.6% for loggers. The main reason behind this difference is that loggers spend more for the purchase of raw material and subcontracts than contract loggers.
Together, the revenue from all logging activities in British Columbia ($4.8 billion), Quebec ($2.1 billion), Ontario ($1.1 billion), Alberta ($0.9 billion) and New Brunswick ($0.6 billion) accounted for 96.6% of the Canadian logging sector. While revenue from all logging activities decreased, notably in New Brunswick (down $57.4 million or 8.6%), British Columbia (down $33.1 million or 0.7%), Newfoundland and Labrador (down $30.7 million or 44.3%) and Alberta (down $24.3 million or 2.7%), increases in Quebec (up $86.2 million or 4.3%) and Ontario (up $52.5 million or 5.0%) nearly offset all of the losses. Increases were also posted in Manitoba (up $7.0 million or 17.9%) and Saskatchewan (up $4.7 million or 3.6%), while Nova Scotia registered a decrease (down $8.8 million or 8.1%).
Contract loggers accounted for 70.5% of the revenue from logging activities in Alberta, compared with less than half in British Columbia (49.1%), Quebec (44.2%), Ontario (43.6%) and New Brunswick (32.7%).
Note to readers
The logging industry is made up of two sub-industries: logging (except contract) and contract logging. The largest proportion of revenues for contract loggers comes from logging services provided on a fee or contract basis, while the largest share of revenues for the logging (except contract) industry are from logging operations on an own-account basis.
Changes in methodology were made to the Annual Survey of Manufacturing and Logging Industries beginning with the reference year 2013. Users should therefore use caution when comparing current data with historical data from before 2013.
For more information on the methodology changes, consult the document "The Integrated Business Statistics Program" in the Behind the data feature of our website.
Data for 2016 have been revised.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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