The 14th Annual Global Buyers Mission held September 7th to 9th, 2017 welcomed over 850 delegates from all over the world to Whistler, B.C. Canada again this year.
Many thanks must go to our funding Partners who without their continued support, we would not be able to deliver this world class event: Natural Resources Canada Expanding Market Opportunities Program (EMO), Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd. (FII), and Global Affairs Canada (GAC). Our main Corporate Sponsors this year included The Waldun Group, San Group Ltd., Interfor, Helijet International, BMO Nesbitt Burns, Glandell Enterprises, Sinclar Group Forest Products Ltd., BFL Insurance, and Kuehne + Nagel Canada.
CEO, Brian Hawrysh, and Board Chairman, Robert Mitchell, welcomed our Opening Ceremony guest speaker, the Deputy Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development, Mr. Tim Sheldan, who then officially opened our 14th Annual GBM.
This year, we registered more international buyers than ever before. They came from as far away as Belgium, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam
. Again, many thanks must go to the Trade Commissioner Service from a number of international markets that greatly assisted with getting the word out and organizing the buyer recruiting again this year. With their help and dedication, many of the buyers were new to the GBM this year, opening opportunities for Canadian manufacturers to build new business opportunities.
New sales are estimated to be in excess of $35,000,000 from the GBM this year.
We also hosted North American architects, designers, contractors, developers, engineers and specifiers this year, to participate in our WoodTALKS program held from September 7th to 9th, which included a mini-seminar series on the tradeshow floor Friday afternoon. This activity was again well received by both the architect community and participating exhibitors. The extensive program included successful lunch and learns and presentations by renowned local architects and speakers Oberto Oberti, Shinobu Homma, and Scott Kennedy.
Products on display from across Canada included timber frame structures, engineered wood products, treated lumber, reclaimed wood, windows and doors, building systems, Western Red Cedar products, and a variety of other value-added wood building products.
For the past thirteen years, BC Wood has organized extended mission programs for incoming delegates including site visits and factory tours around the province. This year, pre-qualified buyers toured production facilities and new project sites in the lower mainland, Vancouver Island, and the Okanagan to meet participating manufacturers. Besides helping buyers immediately source high quality, innovative, and competitively priced wood products, the tours helped build future business relationships by familiarizing potential customers with Western Canada’s wood species. We thank the many local companies that made the effort to open their mills and plants for these informative and productive tours.
Held at the Whistler Conference Centre, the GBM continues to be Canada’s largest event dedicated to promoting value-added wood producers.