s ecto r p r o f i l e
Sustainable forestry operations represent PNG’s future. Credit: Cloudy Bay Sustainable Forestry
Forestry Papua New Guinea’s forestry sector has bounced back from the 2008/9 slump, and is looking to value-adding, together with sustainability and traceability practices, for its growth.
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apua New Guinea has immense forestry operations, with some 29 forest concessions covering 3.5 million hectares. Eight-four percent of PNG’s landmass is covered by forest, and 5.7 million hectares of this are potentially production forests. More than 60 commercial species of timber exist in the country, falling into three broad categories; major hardwoods, commercial hardwoods, and major conifers. Amongst the most valuable of the major hardwoods is kwila and rosewood. Commercial hardwoods have export potential but suffer some unreliability of supply. While most of its timber-related export income comes from the export of round logs (95% of all timberrelated exports in 2011), PNG does produce a range of forest products, including furniture, plywood and prefabricated buildings, for both domestic and export markets.
Processed timber products are exported to Australia, New Zealand and PNG’s South Pacific neighbours. Veneer is mainly sold to China and South Korea. Plantation products account for about 15% of exports.
‘84% of PNG’s landmass is covered by forest, and 5.7 million hectares of this are potentially production forests’
Industry bounces back
Exports of PNG timber rose sharply in 2010 and 2011, after suffering a definite slump during the global financial crisis of 2008/9. The Bank of Papua New Guinea reported forestry exports worth 768 million kina (US$361 million) in 2011, with some 3.5 million cubic metres of tropical hardwood shipped overseas. This marked a modest 3.3% rise in value on the previous year, but a massive 87% on 2009 figures. In 2011, the average export price for timber was 208 kina (US$97.86) per cubic metre, with prices in the first quarter of 2012 appearing to fall back somewhat. 41