Forestry and paper

An agroforestry project plans to convert unused land.

Dry bamboo biomass is one of the products that private company Terragrn wants to produce in large quantities as part of its ambitious plans to restore and use large tracts of land in Mpumalanga (pictured). The company’s stated goal is to turn up to 200 000ha of unused land into a $2-billion sustainable land-management agroforestry project over the next 10 years.

A 68ha pilot project is to be rolled on the land of the Manala Mgibe in association with the Community Property Association (CPA). Trying to create a “nature-based solution” to the worldwide problem of carbon emissions and the transition from fossil fuels, the project is targeting the agriculture and forestry sectors as a means of promoting employment and involving rural communities.

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. 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.

One of the biggest operations in the forestry and paper sector in Mpumalanga is Sappi’s Ngodwana Mill. Although it has a big international footprint, Sappi’s biggest sales volumes are achieved in South Africa, making up nearly 50% of group sales. In

Forestry South Africa: www.forestry.co.za

Sawmilling South Africa: www.timber.co.za

Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry of South Africa: www.tappi.org the six months to March 2023, South Africa also accounted for 39.5% of operating profit. The JSE-listed company has a valuation of R22.9-billion. 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.

Forestry companies are looking into energy generation, including Sappi and AFCOL. Mpumalanga has 40% of South Africa’s forestry resources, which presents an opportunity to exploit the sector’s byproducts in the biomass-to-energy field.

The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has a stake in Hans Merensky Holdings and York Timbers, which has planted out 40ha in high-value crops as the first phase of a diversification strategy.

PG Bison, a subsidiary of KAP Industrial Holdings, is investing R560-million in a new front-end dryer for its particleboard plant in Mkhondo (Piet Retief). The company is also building a new medium-density fibreboard (MDF) plant at its Mpumalanga plant, to complement its existing factory at Boksburg in Gauteng. ■