'It's very damaging to the business': U.S. lumber tariffs hit B.C. manufacturers hard

New softwood lumber tariffs being imposed by the U.S. are already cutting deep into B.C.businesses.

Advance Lumber Remanufacturing in Surreyhas been exportingpallets south of the borderfor the past two decades but operations manager SukhiBrar saidhis American customers haven't placed any orders for a week now.

"The stressful part is that we have no orders on file," said Brar. "It's a bit shocking... this is our main source of income. It puts food on the table."

Before the tariffs were imposed, assembled and unassembled pallets were exempt from duties under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Now, the unfinished pallets are subject to duties ranging from three to 24 per cent.

"We are scared. I mean it's a big part of our business selling to the U.S.," said Brar, who estimates 40 per cent of his business is with the U.S.

Despitethe shakeup,Brar said he doesn't expect any layoffs for his125 employees.

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The cost will be handed down to customers, who he hopes will come back once the dust settles.

"We're just trying to keep our fingers crossed and be optimistic for tomorrow," Brarsaid.

He said the family-owned company has diversified after the recession hit in 2009 andwill rely on other sectors to survive.

It's a shiftthat many other businesses are also considering.

"We'll try to emphasize more of our other markets and see what we can do to try to continue shipments into the U.S., but it is very damaging to the business," said Hanif Karmally, CFO of Teal Jones Group.

Not over yet

The full extent of the blow hasn't even been dealt, asan anti-dumping duty is expected in June. Acombined duty rate, to bedetermined in the fall, will follow.

"When they slap this 30 per cent on, that's a wall.- ChrisSainas,DakerynIndustries

"The expectation by the industry is that it'll be 30 to 35 per cent in total," said Karmally.

"That would be pretty devastating. We're not sure how we would deal with that at this point."

"Right now, you have to have deep pockets to get through these times," said Chris Sainas, who specializes in Canada-U.S. exports for Dakeryn Industries.

"When they slap this 30 per cent on, that's a wall. You can't go over it, you can't go under it, you can't go through it and that's what we are facing right now."