J.D. Irving and woodlot owners feud over price

J.D. Irving, Limited, says it's not getting the wood it needs from private woodlot owners, but some of those owners say they're holding out for a better price.

The forestry company ran a newspaper ad this week, seeking more wood.

Woodlot owners say J.D.I. lowered its price earllier this year and changed its specifications for private wood, making it harder for woodlot owners to sell to them.

Andrew Clark, president of the New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners, said the ad portrays woodlot owners as unreliable suppliers. He said he's not sure the company is actually afterprivate wood.

"The cost for them to produce wood on Crown land in large operations with big, mechanized equipment is reasonably low," he said. "And that's whatwould be their preferred way of acquiring their wood."

Company spokeswoman Mary Keith said Irving's price is fair.

"We work very hard to ensure that we are providing a fair and competitive price, recognizing that we don't set the price for the final products that we are producing," she said. "It's set in a global marketplace and we do have to ensure that we're not paying more than what the market will bear."

Hazen McCrea, who owns a lot near Bathurst, said he'll sell his wood elsewhere.

"If they want wood off their private woodlot owners' property, they're going to have to pay the same price the other mills are paying and make it easy for us to sell it to them," he said

The province's forest industry has struggled in recent years to battle a high Canadian dollar, the poor U.S. economy and reduced demand.

The industry has been calling for an increased wood supply for several years, while some woodlot owners say they only harvest 30 percent of what they were able to five years ago.