Canadian forestry firms saw their third quarter profits trimmed by $552 million, a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers…

Canadian forestry firms saw their third quarter profits trimmed by $552 million, a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers confirmed.

Companies in western Canada racked up a $230 million share of the losses from July to September, while the eastern part of the country took a $322 million hit.

The losses mark a substantial downturn from the corresponding quarter in 2007, when eastern Canadian forestry firms lost $47 million, their western counterparts forgoing $132 million – a figure largely attributable to the 13-week strike taken by forestry workers in the region.

“While prices for certain building products showed improvement at the start of the quarter, increases in inventories and the global financial crisis put negative pressure on prices toward the end of the quarter,” the PWC report noted.