Issue 268 Timber and Forestry E News

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ISSUE 266 | 06.05.13 | PAgE 1

Deal done: ‘let’s get on with it’

THIS ISSUE • Budget options to drive industry forward • Forest industry a giant still growing in Canada

Reduction in log volumes, but investment confidence returns to Tasmania’s forests

By JIM BOWDEN

Evan Rolley .. encouraging private investment once again.

must now deliver its jobs and environmental objectives, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said after the final vote was counted.

Emerging from the aftermath, Ta

TCA joins CFMEU manufacturing campaign • New ‘home’ move by Bretts • Wood expo a ‘who’s who’ in processing • Wood Europe’s renewable fuel of choice

Cont Page 3 Just Go t ood W

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Ann Tasmania CEO Evan Rolley said the first step now was to restore confidence in product

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THE Tasmanian parliament on Tuesday night last week passed historic legislation formalising the agreement between the warring factions in the bitter forest feud after green groups and the industry backed amendments raised by the state’s upper house.

Passage of the laws will now unlock more than $200 million in federal assistance to help the logging industry restructure, while more than 500,000 ha of forests will eventually be protected.

Conservationists and loggers who signed a peace agreement

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ISSUE 266 | 06.05.13 | PAgE 1

INDUSTRY NEWS

AFPA’s budget options to drive industry forward

Manufacturing growth a ‘must’ THE peak body representing forest product industries has called on the federal government to make policy changes in this year’s budget to encourage the growth of regional manufacturing and specifically the forest, wood and paper industries.

Newly-appointed CEO of the Australian Forest Products Association Ross Hampton said governments should be looking to grow these carbon neutral industries and provide a boost to regional Australia.

“Forest product industries offer enormous potential to take pressure off our cities and provide regional jobs for a growing population as we head for 40 million by 2050,” he said.

“We will need 7.1 million new homes by 2050. By promoting timber, as opposed to materials which require much more energy to produce, we will also be doing good things for the environment.”

Mr Hampton said Australian policy makers must come to grips with the reality that major cities were choking and manufacturing industries in regional Australia needed support.

Forestry and forest products offered the best chance of growth in a carbon constrained future.

“Some 85,000 men and women are quietly getting on with using a sustainable, renewable, strong and versatile resource to create everything from house frames and chairs to tissues and paper.

“Those 85,000 direct jobs generate about another 130,000 jobs and represent 6% of our total manufacturing.

“Strangely, government

Page 2 | issue 266 | 06.05.13

Improving our industry’s capacity to develop and maintain a skilled workforce ............................

Ross Hampton .. we must make a start with the budget.

ministers insist on driving Australian made cars but allow their departments to buy overseas made paper – with its greater risk of containing illegally sourced fibre.

“Let’s see that change in this budget.”

However, Mr Hampton said the high dollar and soaring power, fuel and other input costs were putting many jobs at risk.

“Let’s hear the government backing the hundreds of rural mills by accepting the science which says they can use forest waste to save on their power costs and claim renewable credits,” he said.

‘Let’s hear the government get serious about new investment in plantations to bolster our current resources and international competitiveness in wood and paper processing.

‘Let’s hear the Treasurer Wayne Swan announce a review of building planning regulations to encourage greater use of timber in buildings. Australia lags behind Canada, France, Finland, the UK and even New Zealand and Slovenia with policies to encourage the use

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Evan Rolley

Robert Yong

Tony Burke

Richard Colbeck

Bryan Green

Phill Pullinger

Talks begin to seek wood supply from private forests, plantations From Page 1

investment in Tasmania, although he lamented the loss of significant volumes of specification logs.

“Yes, it’s really significant – at least 40% of our previous wood supply is going into the new conservation reserves,” he said.

“But now all this has been resolved by parliament, we’ve just got to get on with it; there can at least be a position where private investment can be encouraged, where we know what the new arrangements are and we can start and try to rebuild our business based on that knowledge.”

Mr Rolley said industry was now surfacing from a position where all private capital investment had been shut off for a long time in the forest product sector.

“Now at least, we know the position and we have a commitment by the signatories, including the Wilderness Society, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Environment Tasmania, to support wood supply into the market, both domestically and internationally,” Mr Rolley said.

“We believe that with that support there is a basis on which we can rebuild and try to diversify our business.”

Established in 2007, Ta Ann Tasmania Pty Ltd adds value to eucalypt regrowth logs previously used only for

woodchips by peeling them into high value PEFC certified veneer for domestic and international product. Two rotary veneer mills, one in the Huon Valley built in 2007, followed by the Smithton mill in 2008, resulted from a capital expenditure of $78.9 million, including a $10.4 million federal grant.

The loss of log volume will see Ta Ann start negotiations with private growers who have lost a lot their wood supply agreements with Gunns since the company’s collapse.

“There are also significant areas of plantations where currently the wood has no home, again because of the demise of Gunns. So we are going to work as hard as we can to rebuild our markets and supply chains,” Mr Rolley said.

Decisions on Ta Ann’s proposed $10 million plywood in the north of the state will remain on hold.

“Until we know the nature of contract negotiations with Forestry Tasmania and talk to the government, the plywood mill is a matter for the Ta Ann board,” Mr Rolley said.

“The project is deferred and we need to re-consider the potential and re-pitch our business.”

In a media statement, the general manager of Ta Ann Robert Yong said the company was delighted that certainty has been returned to the industry and to national and international markets.

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“The company looks forward to working with the state and federal governments and Forestry Tasmania to implement the matters of agreement set out in the legislation,” he said.

Mr Yong thanked the signatories for the years of hard work that has gone into the forest agreement and particularly the support of the ENGOs in the national and international market place.

The federal Environment Minister Tony Burke said the legislation was a declaration that the forestry wars had ended in Tasmania.

“In terms of wars, yeah, look there’ll be the odd skirmish from small minor groups,” he said last Tuesday. “But what we have seen from the last 30 years ends tonight, and that is something to celebrate.”

The final deal, three years in the making, saw leading environment groups bow to changes by the state’s conservative upper house, the Legislative Council, to an original package.

The changes do not affect a keystone nomination for a 170,000 ha extension to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, according to the Tasmanian Resources Minister, Bryan Green. It will go before the World Heritage committee in June.

An accord on the Tasmanian Forest Agreement (TFA) Bill unlocked up to $216 million in federal-state assistance,

Mr Green told the House of Assembly.

Protection of the balance of 504,000 ha of native forests in two phases through to 2015 will only be triggered if global benchmark Forest Stewardship Council certification is achieved, and an independent council deems the peace durable.

The Australian Conservation Foundation, The Wilderness Society and Environment Tasmania said the TFA’s opportunities were so important they were willing to work with the revised legislative framework.

Intensive talks since the Legislative Council amended the bill yielded guarantees from government agencies that the process would work, Environment Tasmania’s director Phill Pullinger said.

They were backed by industry and union signatories to the three year-long peace process, but the agreement split Green MPs and environment groups.

State Greens backbencher Kim Booth refused to back the amended legislation, and the national Greens leader Christine Milne warned that apart from the World Heritage nomination, no forest protection was certain.

“The fact is, these reserves will never be delivered,” Senator Milne said. “They are on the never-never. Beyond the next Cont Page 6

issue 266 | 06.05.13 | Page 3

INDUSTRY TOUR OF CANADA

Forest industry a giant still growing in Canada New technology transforms lumber mills THREE years ago, Vancouver company Fortress Paper bought a bankrupt pulp mill in Quebec.

But this was an expansion with a difference: the specialty paper maker was branching out into new wood-based products.

The company’s aim was to convert the mothballed pulp mill into a manufacturer of specialty cellulose and bioenergy.

More than $150 million later, the refurbished mill produces specialty cellulose that is used to make rayon – a fibre used in the textile industry and known for its soft texture. The material is exported to India, where it is made into shirts.

More than 300 people are now back at work, a godsend for the small Thurso community of 2500 people. And a 25-megawatt cogeneration plant converts the mill waste into electricity for the Quebec power grid.

Fortress Paper’s entry to the world of biochemicals is symptomatic of the new forces at work in Canadian forestry.

“We have taken a big hit – but the forest industry is hiring again,” executive vice-president of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) Catherine Cobden told a visiting Australian forestry delegation.

“We are not a sunset industry.”

The sector had bled more than 130,000 jobs since 2003, and 150 mills had closed since 2009. The immediate cause was the collapse in the US housing market, Canadian forestry’s biggest export destination, but the sector was also suffering from larger structural pressures: higher input costs, the rising Canadian dollar, the declining demand and prices for newsprint due to the rise of

Page 4 | issue 266 | 06.05.13

Australian delegates inspect a large CLT panel manufactured at the Structurlam factory. The window spaces in the panel have been cut with engineering precision.

Exclusive report by PHILIP HOPKINS who travelled with the Australian Forest Products Association wood processing industry tour of Canada last month digital media, the allure of high wages in the Canadian oil and gas sector, and increasing forest pests, blamed by some on manmade global warming.

The mountain pine beetle has killed 53% of British Columbia’s forests, and this percentage is expected to plateau at 58% by 2021. About 10% of commercial forests in BC are affected.

Yet the industry still remains a giant, with production valued at $18.9 billion – $25 billion in exports, a $16.4 billion trade surplus, and 233,900 jobs.

The resurgence, helped by the return of the US housing

Catherine Cobden .. Canadian industry has taken a big hit – but the forest industry is hiring again.

market, has centred on three key factors: • Strong moral, policy and financial support for the sector from the federal and provincial governments, recognising the importance of the 200 regional communities that depend on forestry, particularly indigenous

‘Industry was very grateful at the return of the US lumber market, but it does not change our orientation towards our need for transformation’ – Catherine Cobden

groups.

• A deepening of the research effort through amalgamations and greater cooperation. The new peak research body, FP innovations, founded in 2007, has a $94 million budget and 650 researchers. With universities, about 1300 researchers now work on all aspects of forestry, from silviculture to harvest, haulage and construction.

• Expansion into next generation engineered building systems, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT).

• Generating new products through biopathways – biochemical as at Thursto, biofuels, bio-energy and nanotechnology – as byproducts of traditional processes, to maximise the value extracted from the tree.

Catherine Cobden said industry was very grateful at the return of the US lumber market.

“But .. it does not change our orientation towards our need for transformation,” she said.

FPAC’s goal by 2020 is to generate an additional $20 billon in economic activity from new innovation and new markets, and at least 60,000 new jobs.

“This is a conservative estimate,” says Ms Cobden.

The federal government has put its money where its mouth is; the $1 billion pulp and paper green transformation fund, for example, has funded 98 projects, which FPAC says has created 14,000 jobs.

Federal policy also ‘embeds’ trade officers with industry.

Andrew Cadell, who is embedded with the forestry sector, has forged links with Australia and New Zealand as Cont Page 12

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EVENTS

WHAT’S ON? MAY 5-9: World Building Congress 2013. Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Triennial congress will focus on the relationship between construction and society.

How can research help to maximise the contribution of constructed assets to social goals? How will the research community meet emerging social needs? Visit www. worldbuildingcongress2013.com 15-17: Living Future 2013 – Westin Seattle Hotel, 1900 Fifth Ave, Seattle, Washington, USA. The green building movement’s leadership summit. Guest speakers include David Suzuki, geneticist and environmentalist. Includes an exciting array of educational workshops and off-site tours.

Contact the International Living Future Institute, Seattle. Tel: 503.228.5533. Websigte: if13. eventbrite.com 16-21: 3rd International Congress on Planted Forests – Lisbon,

Portugal. The congress aims to investigate the contribution of planted forests to sustainable development in the context of global changes. Topics will include the sustainability of planted forests, changing climates and the future role of planted forests in environmental protection and REDD+. Five of the major European Atlantic countries (Spain, France, Ireland, UK and Portugal) with large areas of planted forests have joined forces to organise this congress under the coordination of the Atlantic regional office of the European Forest Institute and

the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. Deadline for abstracts is February 28.

Visit www.efiatlantic.efi.int 23: Treating timber: processes, solutions and new developments.

Moda Events – Portside. Level 2, Portside Wharf, 39 Hercules Street, Hamilton, Brisbane. Freee seminar – seats limited. RSVP Monday, May 20. Contact Timber Queensland. Tel: 07 3254 1989. Fax: 07 3254 1964.

Email: admin@timberqueensland. com.au

JUNE 15: Melbourne Hoo-Hoo Club 217 50th anniversary dinner (venue to be advised). Contact: Trish Waters on 0418 358 501. Email: waters58@bigpond.com

august 6-9: AWISA 2014 Exhibition.

Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. The Australian Woodworking Industry Suppliers Association Ltd has decided that the exhibition will move from Sydney to Brisbane next year. Inquiries about booking space: email info@awisa.com or call Geoff Holland on 0412 361 580 23: The Cat Goes Gold.

Brisbane Hoo-Hoo Club 218 50th anniversary celebration. Fratelli Italian Ristorante, 103 Crosby Road, Albion, Brisbane. Contact 0401 312 or 0428 745 455 for bookings.

SEPTEMBER 3-5: WoodEXPO 13 – Albury, nsw.

11-13: WoodEXPO 13, Rotorua, NZ. World leaders in wood processing, manufacturing and new

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product technologies will speak at the region’s first ‘business-tobusiness’ wood industry show.

The new expo will provide local companies – management as well as production staff – exposure to new technologies that can improve their own efficiencies and productive capability. Leading technology providers from Europe, North America and Asia will join with each of the main equipment and product suppliers from New Zealand and Australia. Full details on the expo, summit and technology workshops are available on www woodexpo2013.com

December 4-5. Focus on improving transport and logistics in the forestry sector. It will build on the

excellent program designed by the Forest Industry Engineering Association.

Visit www.foresttechevents.com

MARCH 2014 19: ForestWood 2014 Conference.

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. A panindustry conference jointly hosted

by Forest Owners Association, the Wood Processors Association, Pine Manufacturers Association , Forest Industry Contractors Association and supported by Woodco, NZ Farm Forestry Association and the Frame and Truss Manufacturers Association. Sponsorship and trade exhibition opportunities will be available from the middle of May 2013. Contact the conference organiser Paardekooper and Associates. Tel +64 4 562 8259.

Email: info@forestwood.org.nz www. forestwood.org.nz

Australia’s forest, wood, pulp and paper products industry now has a stronger voice in dealings with government, the community and in key negotiations on the industry’s future, as two peak associations have merged to form a single national association.

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has been formed through the merger of the Australian Plantations Products and Paper Industry Council (A3P) and the National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI).

AFPA was established to cover all aspects of Australia’s forest industry: - Forest growing; - Harvest and haulage; - Sawmilling and other wood processing; - Pulp and paper processing; and - Forest product exporting.

For more information on the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) or to enquire about membership , please call (02) 6285 3833.

issue 266 | 06.05.13 | Page 5

INDUSTRY NEWS

‘Even Labor should understand by now that you just can’t deal with the Greens’ From Page 3

never taking its first breath.”

state and federal election.”

According to Opposition forestry spokesman Senator Richard Colbeck, the muchhyped and sham promise of peace for the Tasmanian forest industry did not even survive until the final vote in the Tasmanian parliament.

“With national leaders of the Green movement – now Christine Milne, Bob Brown and Peg Putt – and local Kim Booth all declaring the deal dead, the predictions of the Coalition have been realised earlier than even we imagined,” Senator Colbeck said.

“Hours before the legislation passed, the most active of the destructive market campaign

Senator Colbeck said the result was entirely predictable because the Greens had walked away from every previous attempt to create harmony in Tasmanian forests.

“Even Labor should understand by now that you just can’t deal with the Greens,” Senator Colbeck said.

Jobs for today .. forest workers campaign in Tasmania at the height of the forest wars.

groups, Markets For Change, pronounced that campaigns had already commenced.

“So what of this much vaunted peace that has been peddled

so gullibly to the Tasmanian community by Labor and sections of the media? By the time it was voted through this deal was dead on arrival –

“The real message from this process is that all you have to do is create conflict and a weak Labor government, pushed by the Greens, will give into whatever demands have been made.

“What incentive was there ever to stop?”

Dramatic rise in export of North America wood pellets DEMAND for wood pellets in Europe has gone up dramatically as power companies on the continent switch from using fossil fuels to renewable energy alternatives.

Importation of pellets from North America increased more than 60% from 2011 to 2012 with the US export volumes more than doubling, according to the North American Wood Fibre. The wood pellet export

Page 6 | issue 266 | 06.05.13

value has increased from an estimated $US40 million in 2004 to almost $US400 million dollars in 2012. This fairly new trade development is the result of Europe’s quest to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and to reduce CO2 emissions. Energy generation from renewable resources has, with varying pace, gone up in all countries in the EU the past decade.

Woody biomass, including wood pellets, is one energy source that has attracted both much attention and investments in a number of countries on the European continent. With limited domestic wood rawmaterial sources, countries such as the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands have increasingly relied on the importation of industrial wood pellets to reduce the usage of

coal at some of their power utilities.

The relatively high costs for wood pellets in Europe have resulted in increased interest in importing pellets from British Columbia and the southern states of the US where wood raw-material costs are lower than in Europe.

The expansion of pellet production has been particularly noteworthy.

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industry news

New ‘home’ for Bretts Timber & Hardware

Strong retail move by century-old Brisbane business

LONG-standing hardware retailer Bretts Timber & Hardware has announced plans to join the Home Timber & Hardware (Home) group.

The decision to align to the nationally recognised brand was based on Bretts’ desire to strengthen the retail side of its business and offer a wider choice of home improvement products to its customers.

In announcing the move, CEO Bill Nutting said that crucial to the move was allowing customers access to an extended range of products at competitive prices and other benefits.

Home Timber & Hardware, which has more than 240 stores across Australia, was launched in 1993 following a merger of Home Saver Timber & Hardware and Homestead Hardware.

“Bretts has been servicing tradies across Brisbane for 100 years, and we’re looking forward to expanding our offer and becoming the ultimate home improvement destination, rather than just a supplier of hardware and timber,” Mr Nutting said.

“This decision to go with an umberella group such as Home massively strengthens our retail business.

“Naturally, we will continue our wholesale supply of timber to

the bulding trade.”

Bretts Timber & Hardware will remain 100% owned by the Nutting family. The business identity will remain and existing staff are looking forward to providing continued service and expertise to customers.

As a member of the Home Timber & Hardware group, Bretts’ Windsor site in Brisbane will receive a refurbishment to improve the range and layout, while the Geebung site will remain the same.

An official launch is set to take place in June 2013.

Wood Protection

Seeking control of Gunns investments A MOVE to secure some of the managed investment schemes of Gunns is being conducted by the Macquarie Group.

The investment bank is reportedly trying to annex nine managed investment schemes from the collapsed timber company, purportedly listed at $500 million.

Macquarie has called a series of investor, or grower, meetings for the 2002-08 schemes on May 28.

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Tanalith E

A safe protection for all wood products This environmentally friendly preservative can be safely used for the treatment of timber products including those to be used for decks, handrails, outdoor furniture, as well as for council and national parks projects.

Tanalith E is our water based Copper Azole formulation. It is a stable preservative providing uniform colour and is particularly suitable for the reduction of treatment processing residues.

It has a lower corrosion impact on treatment plants and equipment as well as the fixings and fasteners used with treated wood products.

Contact the Australian Lonza team for full details of the Lonza value package.

Phone:1300 650 636

issue 266 | 06.05.13 | Page 7

INDUSTRY NEWS

Wood: Europe’s renewable fuel of choice ahead of wind, solar power

EU consumed 13 million tonnes of pellets in 2012 THE renewable energy industry is led to believe that Europe is awash in wind and solar power, but the renewable most consumed is wood, says the Economist Magazine.

Wood, the fuel of pre-industrial societies, represents about half of all renewables consumed in the European Union in some form or another – sticks, pellets or sawdust. The European Union has a target of getting 20% of its energy from renewable resources by 2020.

To get that much renewable energy, it cannot rely solely on wind and solar power.

Wood or biomass accounts for about half of Europe’s renewable energy consumption. In Poland and Finland, for example, wood supplies more than 80% of renewable energy demand.

In Germany, despite its push and subsidisation of wind and solar power, 38% of non-fossil fuel consumption comes from wood.

Europe’s increase in wood consumption is a result of its requirement to obtain 20% of its energy from renewables by 2020. Europeans have found that they cannot meet that target from solar and wind power alone despite the inroads they have made with those technologies.

Fuel of choice .. driven by European Union renewables targets, demand for biomass wood pellets is set to soar over the next decade as utilities displace coal in thermal power plants.

Europe has three-quarters of the world’s installed solar photovoltaic capacity and 39% (109 gigawatts) of the world’s total wind capacity of 282 gigawatts. Europe added 12.4 gigawatts of wind capacity in 2012. Germany leads Europe in total wind capacity installed at 31 gigawatts followed by Spain with almost 23 gigawatts.

Both countries set targets for renewable energy growth early on in the race for green energy and provided fairly lavish subsidies. Since then, both countries have severely

reduced those subsidies due to high and increasing electricity prices (Germany) and increasing debt (Spain).

Germany, for example, has residential electricity prices that are three times those in the US. In the electricity sector, wood has several various advantages including co-firing wood with existing coal-fired power plants (mixing 10% wood with 90% coal) that are already gridconnected and requiring little new investment. Since wood is not an intermittent fuel source as is wind and solar, it does not

Europe’s increase in wood consumption is a result of its requirement to obtain 20% of its energy from renewables by 2020

require back-up power. It is also popular with European electric utility companies because it allows them to continue to operate their existing coal-fired power plants.

According to the International Wood Markets Group, Europe consumed 13 million metric tonnes of wood pellets in 2012 and its demand is expected to increase to 25 to 30 million tonnes a year by 2020.

According to the National Firewood Association, the 2012 European consumption of wood pellets equates to more than four million’ big’ trees and more than eight million ‘average size’ trees.

Meanwhile, according to the California Biomass Energy Alliance, power plants that burn forest and other wood waste help improve the environment and reduce fire danger in the state’s forests.

An alliance fact sheet says biomass plants reduce greenhouse gases, divert waste from landfills, reduce the threat of wildfires and create jobs.

An Energy Commission study concluded biomass fuels are one of the most cost-effective ways to produce environmental benefits in the forests, which provide a beneficial use of the forest treatment residues.

HIA to launch pre-election housing campaign THE Housing Industry Association will commence its Housing Australians Campaign with the release of a series of radio and print advertisements.

The campaign aims to place housing issues squarely on the national agenda to highlight the facts impacting new housing, from the disproportionate level of taxation on the family home,

Page 8 | issue 266 | 06.05.13

growing rates of unaffordability, and the current high level of job losses in the sector.

Australia will need 1.3 million new homes built by 2020. At the current rate of building, more than 150,000 families will miss out on the home they’ve waited for, says the HIA. “There is also an urgent need to identify sources of revenue

growth.

The residential construction sector can deliver such growth in spades if the government is bold enough to talk reform as well as budgetary crisis,” HIA chief economist Harley Dale said.

“Economic reform directed at residential construction boosts new housing supply, economic activity and employment, and

installs a vital cog in the wheel of fiscal recovery, namely revenue growth.

“To use just one example, a 1% reduction in red tape can generate $5.10 of additional GDP per increased dollar of residential activity. That’s a $1.15 billion per annum boost to economic activity.”

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EVENTS

Wood expo program a real ‘who’s who’ in high-tech processing FULL details on the WoodEXPO 2013 program which runs in both Australia and New Zealand in September are being released to industry.

The programs for the one-day wood processing summit, two days of technology workshops, two days of exhibitions and the networking and social planned around the three day shows can be downloaded from www. woodexpo2013.com With four months to the expo, the listing of global technology providers to Australasia’s sawmilling, wood manufacturing and wood panels industries is already very impressive.

“We are delighted to have this region’s largest gathering of wood products expertise yet seen in this part of the world,” FIEA director Brent Apthorp said.

Expo participants to date include ScanMeg, Canada, California Saw & Knife Works, USA, Springer, Austria, EWD, Germany, USNR, USA, Microtec, Italy, FinScan Oy, Finland, Comact, Canada, MTS, USA, Delta Computer Systems, USA, A&M Manufacturing, USA, Waiariki Institute of Technology, NZ, Zelam, NZ/Australia, Machinery Automation Robotics, Australia, Jowat Universal Adhesives, Australia/Germany, Climate Surfaces, NZ, Henkel NZ, Mixon Asia, Indonesia,Thode Knife & Saw, NZ/Australia, Acora Reneco, Australia,

Timber & Forestry e-news is the most authoritative and quickest deliverer of news and special features to the forest and forest products industries in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region.

Weekly distribution is over 7,000 copies, delivered every Monday. Advertising rates are the most competitive of any industry magazine in the region.

Timber&Forestry e-news hits your target market – every week, every Monday!

Holtec, NZ, Soderhamn, Sweden, Engineering Computer HEAD OFFICE Services, NZ, Southern Cross Custom Publishing Group Engineering, NZ/Australia, Unit 23986 Pacific Highway CAMCO, Australia, Andstine Loganholme 4129 Qld, Australia Services, Australia, Andritz Iggesund Tools, NZ/Australia, Morbark, NZ/Australia, Address all correspondence to Supply Services, NZ, Total PO Box 330, Hamilton Central, Qld 4007 Lubricants, NZ, KeyKnife/ Braford Industries, Australia, SiempelKamp, Australia, Automation & Electronics, NZ, dennis@industrye-news.com KopCoat, NZ/Australia, Grecon Greten, Germany, Industrial PUBLISHER Lubricants and Services, NZ, Dennis Macready AE Gibson and Sons, Australia, dennis@industrye-news.com Rotorua District Council, NZ, WA Stroud, NZ, ANZ/UDC Finance, NZ, Spraying Systems, NZ/ Australia, Calibre Equipment, NZ, Skookum Technology, managING EDITOR NZ/Australia, Mahild Drying Jim Bowden Technologies, Australia, SAITO Tel: +61 7 3266 1429 Handitags, NZ/Australia, Leuco, Mob: 0401 312 087 Australia, Weinig, Australia, timberandforestryenews@bigpond.com CMA Hydraulic Engineers, Australia, Indufor Asia Pacific ADVERTISING Ltd, NZ, Scion, NZ, CSIRO, Australia, Sequal Lumber, NZ, Tel: +61 7 3266 1429 Agresearch, NZ, CelluForce, timberandforestryenews@bigpond.com Canada, Massey University, NZ, Nelson Pine Industries, NZ, Lumber Solutions, NZ, Tui Technology, NZ Limited space is also still available to exhibitors at both Opinions expressed on Timber & Forestry e news are not necessarily the venues. Contact WoodEXPO opinions of the editor, publisher or staff. We do not accept responsibility 2013 trade stand and for any damage resulting from inaccuracies in editorial or advertising. sponsorship manager Gordon The Publisher is therefore indemnified against all actions, suits, claims or damages resulting from content on this e news. Content cannot be Thomson on +64 7 921 1384 reproduced without the prior consent of the Publisher- Custom Publishing or email Gordon.thomson@fiea.

Group. org.nz

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issue 266 | 06.05.13 | Page 9

NEW TECHNOLOGY

Space agency awards $1m to forestry data firm IRISH company Treemetrics, which is pioneering data analytical technology for the forestry industry, has been awarded a Euros 800,000 ($A1,015,416) contract from the European Space Agency to carry out a satellite forestry monitoring research project.

Treemetrics will be presenting this technology at the inaugural MobileTECH Summit in Wellington, NZ, in August (see story below).

Treemetrics, founded by Enda Keane and Garret Mullooly in 2005, has been awarded the funding to lead an EU-wide research project in forestry measurement and data analytics.

The company is developing a real-time forest intelligence

Treemetrics’ forestry innovation aims to replace traditional callipers and measuring tape used by foresters with technology to measure forests before trees are cut down.

According to the company, its 3D laser scanners can quickly and accurately measure the shape, size and straightness of standing trees.

Intelligence systems .. Enda Keane, CEO of Treemetrics, with Ireland’s Minister of State for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock.

system, with the goal of bringing live 3D forestry data

to mobile devices and forestry machinery across the globe.

The goal is to allow foresters to use this 3D data to predict the quantities of log products that each tree can produce.

Another aim of the technology is to offer a better way of managing forests and reducing the unnecessary cutting down of trees.

New mobile technology changes the game for forest management BACK in 1990, few people had personal computers, the internet was an unknown and the age of mobile phones was just around the corner.

In a very short space of time these three technologies have fundamentally changed the face of business around the world.

Many of today’s leading global companies such as Google, Apple and Microsoft built their business around these three technologies. The services they provided their customers had a dramatic effect on workers’ productivity and levelled the playing field for many small businesses.

The recent release of smartphones has also been a game changer for many.

Businesses now take it for granted that emails can be checked, news read, documents signed or video streamed, all while on the morning commute to work.

Page 10 | issue 266 | 06.05.13

Space age .. forest harvest machines can transmit real-time information about trees being felled via new satellite and communications systems.

It’s not just the office environment though. Mobile technologies have also had

a major impact on how businesses are run within our primary sector.

The use of handheld devices including smartphones and tablets is exploding, and they’ve already become a crucial part of life on the road for drivers and in the office for fleet managers

For farmers, forest managers and horticultural growers, the level of innovation from mobile technologies has been, and will continue to be, a game changer. Whether it’s satellite imagery of plantation forests, GPS tracking and real-time scheduling of transport and logistics, or soil management through wireless sensor monitoring and automated systems, our primary sector businesses have a lot to benefit from improved mobile communications.

At last year’s FIEA ForestTECH event, forest owners, forestry managers, harvest planners, contractors and transport operators learnt how an Irish forestry technology company TreeMetrics is leading the charge.

Significant funding has been supplied through the European Space Agency for a EU-wide Cont Page 12

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Forests and wood represent big slice of manufacturing industry

Timber Communities Australia joins CFMEU campaign PRIMARY industries need strong markets if they are to be successful, Timber Communities of Australia CEO Jim Adams said in launching TCA’s support of the CFMEU’s ‘Let’s Spread It Around” campaign.

“While many timber communities traditionally think of the forests and timber industry as mostly a primary industry it is also very much a manufacturing industry as well,” Mr Adams said.

“In fact, of the seven recognised sectors of the industry only two are classed as primary production (forest growing and management, and harvest and haulage) and five as manufacturing (pulp and paper,

Talking up the value of the wood manufacturing sector at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland’s head office in Brisbane last week are Stephen Tait, CCIQ chief executive, and Simon Dorries, general manager, Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia. As a member of CCIQ, EWPAA gains affiliation with hundreds of businesses and manufacturers throughout the state.

sawmilling and processing, timber manufactured products, wood panels and

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board production and timber merchandising).

“The reality is that these

manufacturers are the markets that drive the demand that supports the primary sectors of the industry; as such if they are not performing well the whole sector suffers along with all the workers and employees right along the supply and value chains.”

Mr Adams said it was critical to those communities that as much as possible was done to support Australia’s manufacturing industries, particularly those which form part of the forests and timber sector.

He said over the past years much had been made of Australia’s two-speed economy.

Cont Page 14

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issue 266 | 06.05.13 | Page 11

INDUSTRY TOUR OF CANADA

‘Sweet spot’ for timber use will be buildings between 4 and 8 storeys From Page 4

part of this strategy.

Crucial action has come at the provincial level, where the Crown owns virtually all the forest. BC and Quebec, the two biggest forestry provinces, have brought in “Wood First’’ policies. In BC, the Wood First program in the past year to date has increased sales of wood products in non-residential projects by $32 million; 44 local governments have Wood First resolutions; and 179 woodframe mid-rise residential building projects are in planning or development stage.

Within two years, building codes will be upgraded to include CLT and allow all-timber buildings up to six storeys. FP Innovations has produced a CLT handbook for Canada and North America.

“We would gladly work with Australian and New Zealand colleagues to make an Australian and NZ handbook,” said researcher Dr Erol Karacabeyli.

The Australian forestry delegation inspects the Structurlam factory, with a CLT panel, the window spaces already cut to size, in the foreground

The emergence of CLT has

led the way with Lend Lease’s

placed high-rise timber buildings

10-storey

on the agenda. Australia has

Melbourne’s Docklands – but

Forte

building

in

Research estimates that a 15% rise in the use of CLT in all wood sectors in North America by 2015 would create more than $8 billion extra in revenue for the sector

Canada aims to catch up.

One company, Structurlam, based at Penticton in southern BC, manufactures CLT, and has built its own new factory out of CLT to illustrate its qualities.

The company’s director of sales and marketing Stephen Tolnai said Structurlam would not have become involved in CLT without supporting infrastructure – FP Innovations research, the BC government’s wood policy, the preparedness of companies like Lend Lease to use CLT, and demonstration projects.

“They are crucial,” he said.

“We will not get universities or private developers interested unless there are demonstration projects.”

Mr Tolnai predicted that wood would be reintroduced to the commercial sector over the next 10 to 15 years. However, “CLT is not done deal,” he says. Structurlam, a secondtier manufacturer with about 200 employees, “is not making Cont Page 13

New wave of innovations and productivity gains From Page 10

research project into forestry measurement and data analytics. The company has been developing a real-time forest intelligence service, with the lofty goal of bringing live 3D forestry data to mobile devices and machinery across the globe.

TreeMetrics are already using air-borne together with terrestrial LiDAR to provide accurate assessments of standing wood volumes. The company is now taking the stand inventory data and providing real-time information to harvesting machines with cut instructions.

A device is being installed on

Page 12 | issue 266 | 06.05.13

board harvesting machines to transmit real-time information about the trees being felled. In trials on more than 20 machines, details have been relayed back to foresters through ESA’s Inmarsat IsatM2M satellite and communications system.

Mobile communications are core to this development.

Mobile technology was also at the forefront of the trucking industry’s future. The use of handheld devices including smartphones and tablets is exploding, and they’ve already become a crucial part of life on the road for drivers and in the office for fleet managers.

Industry experts at the ForestTECH 2013 event shared their insights into how transport

operators can harness mobile technology to improve fleet management for financial success and to comply with numerous regulatory changes.

Because the mobile technology is so new and changing so rapidly, what’s being rolled out in forestry and wood products industries is also being replicated by a number of other key industries from this regions primary sector.

This is an exciting time for the industry, as mobile applications are opening up a new wave of innovations and productivity gains for businesses within the primary sector.

The inaugural MobileTECH Summit 2013, to be held in

Wellington, NZ, in August, is designed to showcase current and upcoming mobile innovations best suited to Australasia’s principal food and fibre sectors.

The focus is on technologies that can be adopted now, whether it’s on the farm, in the greenhouse or out in the forest.

The underlying principal is that these very new technologies can now be applied across a range of industries and that those working on the land – and in the forest – can learn from each other.

Further details can be found on the event website, www. mobiletechevents.com

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INDUSTRY TOUR OF CANADA

‘We are on the edge of creating a new biomaterial, comparable to 100 years ago when pulp became an industrial concept’ From Page 12

a lot of money”. “But we will not go under – it’s a diversified business,” he said.

FP Innovations research estimates that a 15% rise in the use of CLT in all wood sectors in North America by 2015 would create more than $8 billion extra in revenue for the sector.

Ms Cobden said the “sweet spot’’ for timber use would be buildings between four and eight storeys. The Wood First policy had led to a lot of pushback from steel and concrete.

“You can’t do that. You’ve got to let builders and developers choose the materials they want,” she said.

“There is an opportunity to work with steel and concrete. Eightystorey buildings will not be ours .. but that’s lots of apartments that can use hardwood flooring.’’

On biopathways, the Canadian Forest Service estimates that by 2015, the global bio-market potential will be worth $US50 billion – many times the size of the current conventional market.

FP Innovations and Resolute Forest Products are involved in advanced research on new uses for lignin, which constitutes up to 35% of the weight in wood.

Lignin can be extracted from the chemical process for pulping wood. A lignin demonstration plant is located at Resolute’s pulp and paper factory at Thunder Bay in Ontario, with the nearby Lakeside University also chipping in with research.

Potential uses of lignin include adhesive in pellets, wood products, foundry resins, and epoxy resins; and in carbon fibre, packaging, polyurethane foams and chemicals.

However, the most intriguing bio-research is in the commercial development of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC).

caused by wear, abrasion and light. Potential uses include adhesives for coatings, paints and lacquers; additives for food and cosmetics; advanced reinforced composite materials; aerospace and transport structures; high-strength spun fibres and textiles; innovative coatings; iridescent and protective films; and pigments and inks.

“We call it our anti-graffiti material. You put it on cars – the automobile industry is very interested – and no once can come along and key your car anymore,” said one researcher.

“Your Barbie dress made from cellulose will biodegrade if you want.”

A large CLT panel is lifted against the background of Structurlam’s huge factory, which is a showpiece of timber construction.

A company, CelluForce, was created in July 2010 as a joint venture between Domtar Corporation – the biggest paper producer in North America – and FP Innovations. Based in Montreal, it runs a 3200 sq m, $36 million CNC demonstration plant – the first of its kind in the world – at Windsor in Quebec. A federal department, Natural Resources Canada, and Quebec’s government contributed respectively $23.2 million and $10.2 million towards the project.

The plant extracts CNC, the primary structural building block that gives trees their strength, from wood fibres.

“We break this down, from each micro fibril to one level below that,” said FP Innovations scientist, Dr Richard Berry.

“Each micro fibril is made up of nano fibrils .. we liberate these nano fibrils from the tree.

(A nano is microscopic – one thousand millionth). This is a natural nano particle that builds

The demonstration plant can now produce up to one tonne of nano particles a day. CelluForce is now negotiating with more than 100 companies from 30 countries, looking for new shareholders and partners to take the technology to the next commercial step.

Structurlam’s factory at Penticton in British Columbia is built from timber, with large glulam cross beams buttressed with steel pylons down the side.

up what creates the strength we use in lumber, wood and paper.

What is remarkable about this material is that it has a wide range of applications we can consider because it has a wide range of properties.”

NCC can increase the strength, durability and toughness of materials, and reduce damage

CelluForce is negotiating with more than 100 companies from 30 countries, looking for new shareholders and partners to take the technology to the next commercial step

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“We are working on the basis that 30-40,000 tonnes will be available in the next five to 10 years to sell,” said CelluForce’s president and chief executive Jean Moreau.

“We are on the edge of creating a new biomaterial, comparable to 100 years ago when pulp was created into an industrial concept.”

The Australian forestry delegation, whose trip to Canada was organised by the Australian Forest Products Association, consisted of personnel from industry, industry associations, universities, the CSIRO, public servants and politicians.

issue 266 | 06.05.13 | Page 13

industry news

Building new marketing initiatives to get the housing sector moving From Page 11

“Some will argue that the mining boom is slowing. If that’s the case, then there is even more reason to address the disastrous decline that has occurred within Australia’s manufacturing sector,” Mr Adams said.

TCA is joining this campaign in the lead up to the federal election in September to call on all parties to develop policies to reverse the decline in manufacturing in Australia – for TCA and its members generally and specifically the manufacturing sectors of the industry.

“We have identified 10 core areas of policy which if addressed would go a long way to reversing the decline in the manufacturing sectors of our industry,” Mr Adams said.

“In the lead up to the election, we will at regular intervals be releasing fact sheets detailing each and calling on the parties to adopt these policies.”

In brief, the policy areas identified are: • Revising anti-dumping legislation to strengthen the onus of proof and provide disincentives for dubious claims.

• Revising illegal logging legislation to transition to certification against an accepted national or international standard endorsed by PEFC or FSC, as

Developing policies to support the manufacture of wood products in Australia.

the measure of legality over a short time frame.

• Ensuring equity in tender processes by providing specifications for a range of acceptable construction technologies, including timber for government projects.

• Encouraging optimisation of Australian content in government procurement and rating systems such as green star.

• Structuring definitions of recycling and pre and postconsumer to encourage greater uptake of recycled products and technologies.

• Trade practises, truth in advertising. – making

Jim Adams .. forest and timber represents a significant manufacturing base.

deductible gift status entities (i.e. tax payer funded) more accountable for their actions

Supporting initiatives that enhance the sustainability and community support of the sector, including certification schemes, new technologies and stakeholder engagement

and statements where they are demonstrably untrue and damaging to Australian employers and employees.

• Making sure Australia minimises the use of 457 visa or FIFO employees by ensuring there are sufficient well-trained people locally in Australia and in the required regions.

• Building market initiatives – getting the housing sector moving and using wood rather than concrete, steel and aluminium.

• Encouraging research and investment in new technologies to reduce the economic and silvicultural reliance on export residue markets.

• Support initiatives that enhance the sustainability and community support of the sector including certification schemes, new technologies, stakeholder engagement, silvicultural advancements, and landscape management initiatives.

The TCA acknowledges that none of these issues, initiatives or policies is new and some work, in some cases much work, has been done on some of them.

“Nonetheless the two-speed economy persists and much more needs to be done if we are to save manufacturing in Australia and the many rural and regional jobs and communities which in part rely on the forests and timber industry,” Jim Adams said.

Frame Australia launched in Melbourne on May 20 THE 2014 Frame Australia conference and exhibition will be launched in Melbourne on May 20 at the Park Hyatt.

The event will outline a new program concept for the conference theme of Prefab Timber and Engineered Wood in Building Construction.

Page 14 | issue 266 | 06.05.13

Frame Australia, the major national event for engineered timber and building prefabrication, will take place from May 19 and 20 next year.

Now in its 15th year, the event will bring together delegates in design and construction of residential and commercial buildings to interact with

delegates from timber supply, engineered wood, prefabrication and panelisation to facilitate networking, shared knowledge and experiences.

Sessions will open with a keynote address followed by expert speakers and conclude with a panel discussion forum to encourage audience

participation. A new format program will comprise four half day topic sessions over the two days and for the first time delegates can register for individual sessions to save time and reduce cost.

For more information visit the website www.frameaustralia. com.au

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Schools program attracts younger generation to jobs in forest sector Women targeted in new careers choice for students CANADIAN students looking to make their living in the forestry sector now have an extra edge to prepare for that opportunity.

A new forestry program, the first of its kind in the Northwest Territories, has been introduced at a secondary school and is accessible to students who are close to graduation.

The dual-credit forestry class allows students to examine the forestry industry, different career options and the knowledge needed, and experience practical exercises on state-of the-art equipment.

On the morning of April 16, students were doing just that.

Nearly a dozen stood waiting for their turn, two at a time, to try out virtually moving trees around in a forest setting.

The harvester-processer and faller-buncher simulators were brought to Hay River from Alberta as part of a program through the Woodlands Operation Learning Foundation (WOLF), which is affiliated with Alberta’s Northern Lakes College.

Only the first step in training, instructor Bevan Davidson said this year he would be travelling with the simulators to five Alberta high schools, all with an aim to attract the younger generation, especially women, to jobs in the forestry sector.

“We have a hard time attracting young people to the industry,” Mr Davidson said. “Maybe other technologies might seem more interesting and oil and gas is especially quite a lucrative sector. But forestry is climbing back up.”

The two simulators were

and, in the meantime, the school is reaching out to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ forestry division to further the practical component of the program. It has also received funding from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to cover the instructor and transportation of the simulators.

As if they were truly in the forest, students were sitting in industrial padded chairs, staring at a screen of virtual trees and equipment, controls at their hands and feet. They agreed the faller-buncher was easier to work.

There are different careers in forestry and the course touches on them all.

developed in 2009 in Sweden.

They cost around $240,000 for both.

The simulators at the secondary school are only two of five pieces of equipment WOLF uses for training.

The program itself is not only about logging.

Mr Davidson said there were different careers in forestry and the course touched on them all – the economic, social,

environmental and scientific aspects to forest stewardship and ecology.

“It’s an opportunity for students to stay and work and live in the North,” said teacher J.J. Hirst.

“When some students thought of forestry, they thought mostly of logging, but that’s only one area. We are finding it includes such a wide range.”

Mr Hirst is taking online modules to keep ahead of the questions,

Other technologies might seem more interesting and oil and gas especially is quite a lucrative sector. But forestry is climbing back up

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“When I finish school, I want to be a heavy equipment operator and I figured this was a good way to get my foot in the door,” one student said. “This is the first time I’ve been able to take a program like this.”

The idea for the program came when Hay River businessperson Brad Mapes approached school administration about starting kids on a learning path that could lead them into forestry. With Mapes’ proposed wood pellet mill near Enterprise, there may be opportunities for students in the forestry sector.

“There could be more opportunity here in the next few years,” Mr Hirst said.

– The Hub Northwest Territories.

ISSUE 266 | 06.05.13 | PAgE 15

international focus

Logging permits abuse in Africa spurs laundering of illegal timber Voluntary partnership agreements with EU theatened Systematic abuse of small, poorly regulated logging permits in Africa by companies, forest officials and politicians is undermining efforts to fight deforestation and keep illegal timber out of the EU, says a report by Global Witness.

The report, Logging in the Shadows, identifies a largely hidden pattern of abuse across Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana and Liberia, in which permits designed to promote small businesses and meet local needs are being allocated in their hundreds to industrial logging companies.

These ‘shadow permits’ open the door to highly lucrative, large-scale logging operations which bypass oversight by the authorities.

“This is a very worrying trend,” says Alexandra Pardal, Europe campaigner at Global Witness.

“Logging companies are systematically colluding with corrupt officials to get around laws designed to stop them decimating forests and abusing

Logging in the Congo .. ‘shadow permits’ open doors to illegal logging trade.

those that live in them,” she said.

“This is massively undermining international efforts to regulate the international timber trade, notably the EU’s Voluntary Partnership Agreements and Timber Regulation.”

About 12.4 billion Euros worth of timber considered to pose a

high risk of illegality entered the EU in 2011. In March 2013, the EU Timber Regulation prohibited the import of illegal timber, but in the past two months Global Witness and Greenpeace have uncovered suspicious log shipments in EU ports from two of the countries featured in Logging in the Shadows.

‘This is massively undermining international efforts to regulate the international timber trade’

Meanwhile, the EU has been developing Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) with timber-exporting countries, which involve comprehensive forest governance reforms aimed at stamping out the illegal trade.

Neither the EU Timber Regulation nor the VPAs take account of the widespread use of shadow permits, however.

This means they could end up laundering the type of wood products they were designed to exclude “Unless European and African policy-makers take urgent action, shadow permits could become the Trojan horse by which illegal timber is brought into the EU and passed off as legitimate,” Alexandra Pardal said.

“Timber importers must do proper checks right the way along their supply chains to make sure they know exactly where their timber came from and whether the permit used to get it was legal.”

Industry shocked by loss of George Weyerhaeuser jnr MANY in the British Columbia forest sector were shocked at the sudden passing of George Weyerhaeuser jr in Tacoma at age 59, who had a strong interest in growing trees better and faster, in harvesting energy from plants, and in many other practical, science-based pursuits.

He was widely known as a thinker with a strong interest in science and technology, a consistent innovator with an eye on the industry’s future, and a good friend to many in the US, Canada and around the world.

His role as president and CEO of Weyerhaeuser Canada from 1995 through 1998 coincided

Page 16 | issue 266 | 06.05.13

with his chairmanship of the board of trustees of the Forest Alliance of BC. He was also chair of the UBC Faculty of Forestry advisory council and many other groups.

After moving back to Federal Way as senior vice-president for technology, Mr Weyerhaeuser’s analytical skills and his penchant for innovation led him in 2006 to Geneva as a senior gellow to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. He returned to Tacoma in 2008. He had a strong interest in growing trees better and faster, in harvesting energy from plants, and in many other practical, science-based pursuits.

George Weyerhaeuser jr .. consistent innovator in forest industry.

When Mr Weyerhaeuser first arrived in Vancouver to succeed the retiring David McInnis as

CEO of Weyerhaeuser Canada, he remarked how it was going to be challenging to measure up to his predecessor’s strong reputation.

As it turned out, Mr Weyerhaeuser was able to work across disciplines, sectors and continents to bring people together to think in new ways and to set and then accomplish new, innovative goals. In every sense, he more than measured up.

Mr Weyerhaeuser is survived by his wife Kathy McGoldrick, sons Walker and Corydon, his father, George Weyerhaeuser and mother Wendy, four sisters and a brother.

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industry news

AFPA identifies eight key priorities in policy changes in the federal budget From Page 2

of wood in construction.

“If just half of the new houses built in Australia were built primarily of wood we would save a minimum of 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.”

Mr Hampton said doing more for forestry and forest industries was vital to the economy as the mining boom slowed. ”We must make a start in this budget,” he said.

FPA has identified eight key priorities.

• Recognise the environmental and economic value to the Australian community of a vibrant forest products industry and plan for expanded contribution of the industry to a low carbon economy.

• Deliver a better regulatory environment and a new program of direct action for the commercialisation of carbon sequestration in forests and forest products through payments for carbon storage and greater use of biomass for renewable energy.

• Stimulate capital investment for new softwood and hardwood

plantations and support the regional forest agreements to provide long-term wood supply from sustainably managed forests.

• Deliver competitive and efficient (low cost) energy networks for wood and paper manufacturing users, including affordable gas and associated gas infrastructure.

• Deliver fast and effective anti-dumping action, support

certification, address illegally sourced imports of wood and paper products and recognise the environmental advantages of wood through building codes and energy rating schemes.

• Promote the benefits of sustainable forest management and recognise the renewability of products derived from wood through public communications activities.

• Facilitate investment

comparable to other countries, by reducing sovereign risk, transparent planning processes and incentives for investment.

• Develop better infrastructure promote skills and resume funding of R&D in sustainable forest industries.

The full report can be read on the AFPA website at www. ausfpa.com.au

NSW manufacturers eligible for funding MANUFACTURERS will be eligible for a new round of funding under the $6.7 million Innovate NSW state government program. The initiative will consider funding applications from a range of small to medium companies, providing grants up to $15,000.

The program will also contribute funding up to 25% of project costs, to a maximum of $100,000, for companies looking to develop new technology. It will also help companies collaborate with other researchers, larger corporations, and consumers to help lead the development of new products.

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