FORESTRY IN WAIRARAPA Improvement

in Log Prices but weather hampers supply

As expected, February has seen a solid lift in export prices courtesy of some increased in-market sales prices (CFR) and a reasonably subdued shipping market.

The At Wharf Gate (AWG) prices o˛ ered by the di˛ erent exporters ranges between $NZ134 and $NZ142/m3 for Export A grade.

Port deliveries have been all over the place with continued weather events hampering the ability for harvesting crews to produce and carriers to get access to harvest sites. This is especially the case in the woodlot sector where many are operating in ‘summer’ blocks with little or no roading infrastructure.

Supply will also be restricted by Kiwirail’s genius decision to roll a fully laden log train through a section of ˝ ooded track during the massive rain event that ˝ ooded the King Country. Unsurprisingly, the track was undermined, and the ensuing derailment has blocked the main link between Kaingaroa Forest and Tauranga Port. Kiwirail expected the repair to take 2 weeks but it’s probably safe to bank on a month. To put some perspective around this cluster, the service moves around 30,000m3 per week to the port which is the equivalent to 1,000 truck and trailer loads, it will likely remove around 100,000m3 from the supply system.

The China lunar holidays are in full swing, and we won’t see any o˛ port demand for another week or so as people return to work.

There’s still not a whole lot of good news around the

Chinese real estate and construction markets with 2022 GDP ÿ gures of 2.9% being the lowest in half a century. Interestingly, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently revised their China GDP forecast for 2023 from 4.4% to 5.2% which shows some optimism around market activity. India looks to lead the world in GDP growth for 2023 with IMF expectations that China and India combined

Forest Enterprises forests stand up to storms

Forecast to be one of the most serious storms to hit New Zealand this century, Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle has made landfall and many North Island regions are under a National State of Emergency.

normally see after adverse weather. This outcome is largely due to the locations of our forests, the geology of the sites, and the signiÿ cant investment we’ve made into best practise.

need to be made to standards and practises.

will account for over half of global GDP growth. It’s still too di˙ cult for NZ to economically supply to export logs to India, but the expectation is that other supply points such as Uruguay will pull away from China to chase the higher returns in India leaving NZ in the pole supply position.

The USA has shot out of the blocks in 2023 with non-farm payroll stats of just over half a million jobs, which is a fourfold increase in forecasts, dropping unemployment to 3.4%. This indicates that a recession may be staved o˛ for now but does put further pressure on in˝ ation. What does this mean for our industry? Many of our pruned log sawmills sell into the US DIY market so any positive signs from Uncle Sam will be welcome relief from the naval gazing in previous months.

Marcus Musson Director Forest360

Forest Enterprises’ forests in Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne all came through the storms of the new year largely intact. But as with Cyclone Hale, we’re vigilant in our response to Gabrielle which, at the time of writing, is impacting Tair˜whiti and Hawke’s Bay.

Wairarapa’s eastern hill country bore the brunt of January’s signiÿ cant storm, with the Ngahape valley being most e˛ ected. The forests we manage were reasonably damage free. We paused harvest operations for a few days to work with contractors to repair roads and access and help with clean-up and recovery. The storm did not interrupt our silviculture programme.

Harvest was halted in our Gisborne forests for a week during January’s State of Emergency. Our harvest contractors were temporarily redeployed to assist the local council clear public roads.

We have not contributed woody debris or sedimentation onto our neighbour’s properties except at the levels we’d

We remain humble in these situations, as geology and rainfall are only manageable at the margins. What we can manage is the standard of planning and works under our control. After the new year storms, we only incurred normal damage, and with that, normal cost to restore a˛ ected features.

Some properties in the north, especially Auckland, have been very hard hit. Sometimes this is pure chance and sometimes, in hindsight, improvements sniwoodcouncil@gmail.com

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.

0273 290 498 sniwoodcouncil.co.nz/

An enquiry into land use, especially in Te Tair˜whiti, is certain to go ahead. We hope it will be scientiÿ c and rigorous. A large proportion of our Gisborne forests are on Red Zone land, but we are not seeing the mass slope failures, and associated slash migration reported north of Tolaga Bay, where soil types are more fragile.

Nevertheless, it’s likely that certain geologies are not suitable for any productive land use, be it farming, forestry or horticulture. Similarly, certain locations are not safe to construct homes, roads or rail networks.