30 FEATURE SUPPLEMENT
Thursday, July 21, 2022 Wairarapa Times-Age
FEATURE SUPPLEMENT 31
www.age.co.nz Thursday, July 21, 2022
FORESTRY IN WAIRARAPA
But, when it comes to what’s being done to support these sectors, it’s hard to see much beyond the increasing legislation which is only making things more di° cult for ÿ bre investment. These changes appear to be a political move to appease an agricultural lobby that has inÿ ltrated our local government and is campaigning against a perceived swath of conversions of farmland into plantation forestry. However, MPI’s National Exotic Forest Description (NEFD) data shows that plantation forestry peaked in 2003 at 1.83 million hectares. It declined for the next 16 years to just under 1.69 million hectares. Over the past two years the area has only increased by 43,000ha to 1.74
120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000
Year Total new planting
2020
2018
2016
2014
2012
2010
2008
2006
2004
2002
2000
1998
1996
0
1994
20,000 1992
million hectares. This is not a picture of rampant forestry growth. We still have less plantation forests than 10 years ago. Like farming, forestry is a wealth creator. It produces an essential product; in our case, the raw material for a massive, nationwide new house building programme, and the future biofuel needs for sectors like dairy, as it transitions away from a reliance on coal for drying milk powder. Technicians around the world are working on ways which wood derivatives can replace coal and oil-based plastics. New Zealand is well placed to use this technology with our large dairy processing base that is highly reliant on coal. Our sawmills provide a perfect example of carbon neutrality by drying all their timber with furnaces fuelled with their own waste. Already Fonterra has modiÿ ed several of its factories by replacing coal burners with wood pellet burning furnaces. The dairy and tree crop sectors
Year ended December 1992-2020
Total new planting (ha)
The government has identiÿ ed our primary sectors as leading the way to economic recovery from recent turbulence, led by forestry and horticulture exports.
Forest Plantings and Harvest Volumes Harvest Volume (000m2)
Are we ready for a future of increased wood use and biofuels?
Harvest volume (right axis)
FOA Facts and Figures 2021
have much to be gained from a shared vision of a carbon neutral future. Latest ÿ gures from the Timber Industry Federation show there’s an additional 635,000m3 of timber available for construction this year in New Zealand, compared with the pre-covid year of 2019. And we need it. Want to build a house? Chances are you will need pine. Paper and fuel products are indispensable in the world. Plus, pine pallets make the world go round. How is all that milk powder going to get exported if it’s not stacked on pine pallets? Our primary
sectors rely on wood products for their exports: bins for apples, crates for onions and kiwifruit. Pallets for everything. Pine is everywhere! Carbon uptake by planting of new forests is the only means New Zealand has to remove CO2-e (carbon dioxide equivalent) from the atmosphere at the speed required to meet our netzero target. But in addition to lowering greenhouse gas emissions, building with wood stores carbon sequestered by trees while they’re growing. It’s a double win! SCION (New Zealand’s forestry
Crown Research Institute) estimates a typical New Zealand timber framed home with a ˛ oor area of 200m2 contains about 30m3 of wood and therefore locks up 27 tonnes of CO2-e. SCION’s Innovation Hub in Rotorua is a bigger example. It’s a three-storey building containing 455m3 of structural wood, storing approximately 418 tonnes of CO2-e. This storage is equivalent to the emissions from one person ˛ ying 160 return ˛ ights from Auckland to London. Impressively, it took only 35 minutes for New Zealand
Radiata pine to grow the same amount of wood used in the Innovation Hub. New Zealand already has many timber success stories with its export ports, good rail links for timber cartage and large processing base, and sawmills are large contributors to our local economies. Biofuels are poised to provide ÿ bre needs and timber will make innovation at a local scale with wood ÿ bre a very attractive investment. As farmers are faced with looming on-farm emissions payments, exotic forestry is a solution that will provide them with an o˝ set and income that can diversify their farm proÿ ts. Are our councils ready to support them? Or will the promising future for wood ÿ bre in New Zealand be blighted by legislation and an anti-tree bias that will limit any investment in the tree crop sector? It remains to be seen how our primary sectors can work together to ensure the common and continued success of our export economy while providing the carbon neutral products that customers demand. Our local councils can provide the encouragement needed for this transition to occur, but the current environment only provides ideas for regulations and not the support for the new carbon neutral future of our primary sectors that is emerging.
A silver milestone for Forest Enterprises’ Graeme Tindall The week Graeme Tindall joined Forest Enterprises in 1997 as a new chartered accountant, the company was celebrating its 25th anniversary. In fact, the 25th birthday event at Te Parae was the ÿ rst work do he attended. This year, Forest Enterprises reached its golden anniversary and it’s Graeme’s turn to celebrate his silver milestone. Graeme would be among the country’s most experienced forestry accountants. Cool, calm and collected, he is highly regarded by the Forest Enterprises team and business associates. As Managed Investments Director, Graeme leads Forest Enterprises’ Administration and Client Services teams. He is accountable for the company’s ÿ nancial services license and registered forestry investments.
of the 1990s, having established 45 investments over the decade. Twenty-ÿ ve years later – about the length of a forestry investment – Graeme is re-syndicating the company’s managed forests for the next generation of investors.
At the time Graeme joined Forest Enterprises, it was tapering o˝ its growth period and promotional campaigns
Graeme is at the heart of the company’s ownership succession. He was recruited by retired managing director
Steve Wilton while founder Charles Wallis was still at the helm. Having worked with Charles, Steve and former forestry director Dave Jervis, Graeme’s legacy knowledge is invaluable to both the new shareholders and sta˝ . Graeme is the longest serving member currently on sta˝ at Forest Enterprises, just shy of the 27 years dedicated by Charles Wallis (1972-1999)
and Steve Wilton (1991-2018). Dave Jervis (1978-2008) and forester Graham Dick (19822014) both served Forest Enterprises for over 30 years. Graeme is a keen athlete and sportsperson. He has been a Wairarapa representative lawn bowler, and in May 2021, Graeme joined an elite group of very few New Zealanders to have competed in 300 marathons!
Wildlife Management Specialists Wild animal control is a vital component for protection of new plantations and native flora. Passionate about the outdoors and the environment, we pride ourselves on being versatile with the ability to safely and effectively deliver a range of wildlife pest control services in challenging and remote locations.
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32 FEATURE SUPPLEMENT
Thursday, July 21, 2022 Wairarapa Times-Age
FEATURE SUPPLEMENT 33
www.age.co.nz Thursday, July 21, 2022
FORESTRY IN WAIRARAPA Southern North Island Wood Council Scholarships OPEN
Log Market Update -
It’s going to be a long cold winter for log exports
Our Wood Council o˜ ers this $8,000 scholarship each year for students from right across the lower North Island.
Marcus Musson. Director Forest360 Most of us have been able to secure longer term export contracts at prices around the 3-year average to protect the baseline volume of our clients, however, this is at lower volume levels which means that the contractors (harvesting and cartage) must reduce production to levels generally below breakeven. While there’s nothing new in the cyclical nature of the forest industry (it is a commodity trade after all) this one is more painful when the e˜ ects of fuel costs, sta˜ illness and a couple of covid lockdowns are thrown in the mix. Due to the lack of reliable labour and continued focus on health and safety, more people are in machine cabs and not wielding chainsaws. This has forced the mechanization of the industry and the resulting capital investment and debt loading of many of these
businesses is eyewatering. What was a medium sized ground-based crew with a capital cost of $2M ÿ ve years ago is now a high production fully mechanized crew with capital cost over double! This can put contractors who were not prepared for a sudden downturn in a precarious position. July export prices have seen some slight increases since June with A grade generally in the early to mid $110 range per cubic metre which, although a welcome increase, is like being happy with omicron when you thought you might get delta. The CFR price in China (sales price in $US landed in China) has eroded slightly through June and is currently in the high $US140’s to early $US150’s/m3, a reduction of around $US30 from April. Thankfully, shipping rates have dropped faster and are now in
the mid to high $US50’s. This drop in shipping is on the back of an easing in vessel demand and a reduction in the wait times for vessels around NZ ports. The potential of further softening in shipping rates is unlikely due to fuel costs and, as the $US:NZ exchange rate is at the lowest point since the ÿ rst covid holiday, the only opportunity for an increase in NZ At Wharf Gate (AWG) prices rests solely on the ability to increase sales prices. As it takes around 6 weeks from stump to market, the June NZ supply reduction won’t become a reality in China until August and, the thinking is that at that point demand will have increased from
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current levels of early 60Km3/ day to somewhere in the mid 70’s. July production in NZ will likely be weaker than June as woodlot jobs ÿ nish and crews have nowhere to go, therefore August supply into China will be decidedly average as likely will September. Generally, history dictates that the supply/demand pendulum then swings into panic buying territory around this time and the race to the top begins, again. It’s no secret that the China construction industry currently has legs about as long as a dachshund so we’re deÿ nitely not going to see the levels of demand experienced in previous years but, as global supply into China is almost non-existent, we hope that
what little demand there is will more than soak up the NZ supply, once we kick back into action. Domestic demand remains strong and at times like this we realise the importance of solid demand from NZ sawmills to bolster returns to forest owners. Several sawmills that cut pruned logs and rely on supply from private forests are running hand to mouth with supply, a situation that will probably get worse before it gets better. So, all in all, it’s the middle of winter, its wet, prices are rubbish but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, let’s hope it’s not a train……
Sophie Cusack
Previous recipients include Stanley Archibald (Rathkeale College) who is now in his 3rd year of Bachelor of Forest Engineering, Tegan Hardie (FAHS Feilding High School) 2nd year Bachelor of Forestry Science, and Sophie Cusack (Wairarapa College) 1st year Bachelor of Forestry Science, all at the University of Canterbury’s School of Forestry. As well as the cash contribution towards their
education, these students are supported with holiday work by our local forestry companies. We thank JNL, Farman Turkington Forestry and Forest360 for their holiday work and experience they provide. What’s the scholarship criteria? Anyone can apply who is wanting to attend tertiary education in forestry at either University of Canterbury or Toi Ohomai in Rotorua. Check out details on www. sniwoodcouncil.co.nz/ careers/scholarships and ÿ nd an application form or email us.
sniwoodcouncil@gmail.com
0273 290 498
sniwoodcouncil.co.nz/
OFFICE 06 377 4443 GUY FARMAN 0274 488 810 EMAIL Guy@�f.co.nz WEBSITE www.FTF.co.nz
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The Southern North Island Wood Council provides a collective voice for the forestry sector in Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatu, Wairarapa, Tararua and Wellington. Members have a common interest in ensuring the long-term success of the sector. Membership is open to any company or individual with an interest in the local wood industry. Erica Kinder, SNI Wood Council CEO, can be contacted for more information.
Ormond ENGINEERING WE SPECIALISE IN
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