OVERVIEW
Forestry and paper Sawmills are generating energy.
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ustainability is the modern watchword but finding a way to use resources for people is also popular. The MTO Group, which has 39 900ha of plantation under management in the Lowveld, teamed up in 2018 with mountain-bike enthusiasts of White River and Nelspruit to develop a set of trails through the hilly landscape of the area. One of the biggest operations in the forestry and paper sector in Mpumalanga is Sappi’s Ngodwana mill. The mill produces 330 000 tons of paper pulp for its own consumption, 250 000 tons of dissolving wood pulp (DWP) and 380 000 tons of paper (newsprint and kraft linerboard used for packaging) annually. Exports account for 70% of the mill’s product. Ongoing investment at Ngodwana Mill will contribute R13billion to the provincial economy over 20 years. Sappi’s other large facility in the province, the Lomati Sawmill in Barberton, produces kiln-dried Southern African pine lumber from sawlogs supplied by Sappi Forests. The mill generates its own energy through co-generation (steam and electricity from renewable and other sources). In 2017 Sappi built a sugar extraction demonstration plant at Ngodwana. Findings from the experiment will help to improve the process of extracting bio-renewable chemicals. Sappi is partnering with Valmet, a Finnish company. Other forestry companies are looking into energy generation, including AFCOL. Mpumalanga has 40% of South Africa’s forestry resources. This fact presents an opportunity to exploit the sector’s byproducts in the biomass-to-energy field. The Zebra Pellets plant in Sabie is to be converted by national utility Eskom into a torrefied pellet plant. The wood will be provided to the plant (owned by the Industrial Development Corporation) and then heated without the use of oxygen (torrified) which creates a coal-like product without the carbon. MPUMALANGA BUSINESS 2019/20
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SECTOR INSIGHT The MTO Group plants 18 trees every minute. Forestry accounts for about 8% of Mpumalanga’s gross domestic product. The sector comprises logging, saw-milling, wood product and pulp and paper manufacture. Pulp and paper are the main exports, along with sawn lumber, wood chips and wattle extract. Most sawn timber in South Africa is used in the construction sector. Mpumalanga has the ideal climate and topography for forests. Sabie and Graskop represent the hub of the industry, but commercial forests are also found to the east and south along the Swaziland border. About 11% of the land mass is forested, with 4% of that being natural forest. The province is the national leader in total hectares under forest (514 000ha) and in export earnings. Plans to develop an Agriculture and Fores tr y
