New Brunswick exporters believe they should be better protected against the impacts of the surging loonie after battling through the current recession and their previous brush with parity with the U.S. dollar.

The Canadian dollar has risen sharply in recent days, closing on Wednesday at 97.49 cents US, heights the loonie has not hit since August 2008.

Already grappling with the negative effects of the recession, New Brunswick's forest industry is now being forced to contend with a rising Canadian dollar that makes its products less competitive in the U.S. market.

'The silver lining is that manufacturers and exporters had already begun a metamorphosis in response to the record high value of the loonie last year.'— David Plante, N.B. vice-president, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association

The New Brunswick Forest Products Association says lumber exports to the United States dropped by more than 50 per cent over the last two years and half of the province's mills have closed.

Now, the prospect of the Canadian and American currencies nearing parity again means profit margins are dropping on forestry exports to the United States.

Mark Arsenault, the president and chief executive officer of the forest products association, said one glimmer of hope for many in the faltering industry is that the companies left standing are better equipped to deal with the loonie's latest surge.

"The ones that are there have made a lot of changes. They've modernized. They've leaned out their operations," Arsenault said.

"And they're doing their best to stay in the game."

Arsenault said there have been some economic signals that the worst may be over for some of his members. A small increase in U.S. housing starts could help offset any pain inflicted by a rising Canadian dollar, he said.

"We've seen a little bit of an increase, a small increase, but at least it's not the curve coming down, it's the curve going up in our wood sales. So, we want to think that this is the time that we are starting to recover," Arsenault said.

David Plante, the New Brunswick vice-president for the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said many companies learned how to survive with a higher dollar in 2008.

When the two currencies were at par before, many companies that had traditionally relied on a weaker Canadian dollar as a competitive advantage were forced to redesign their business plans.

Plante said many businesses have a renewed focus on improving productivity by investing in innovation and hunting for new export markets.

"The silver lining is that manufacturers and exporters had already begun a metamorphosis in response to the record high value of the loonie last year," Plante said.

"And this involves a renewed focus on productivity as well as a real focus on innovation, not only in terms of new products but in terms of new markets as well."