Forestry in Wairarapa November 2021

24 FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

Thursday, November 18, 2021 Wairarapa Times-Age

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT 25

www.age.co.nz Thursday, November 18, 2021

FORESTRY IN WAIRARAPA Wairarapa College Students new Scholarship winner Sophie Cusack, a year 13 student from Wairarapa College is the new 2022 Southern North Island Scholarship recipient.

Sophie was awarded the scholarship from a pool of 6 applicants, (all from the Wairarapa this year) She enjoys sciencebased subjects at school and is involved in many outdoor activities, as well as playing netball to a high level.

Wairarapa for summer work.

Canterbury University is the only University in New Zealand to o˜ er the Bachelor of Forestry Science and the Bachelor of Forest Engineering, (both 4-year degrees) and this year these courses have seen a large surge in applicants.

The positive future for the forest sector in NZ, along with the broad nature of these courses are seeing an upswing in popularity for tertiary forest studies.

Sophie will head o˜ to Canterbury University next year to start her Bachelor of Forestry Science and is looking forward to the many ÿ eld trips and ‘going bush’.

She can take 8K with her to contribute towards her studies, and we are looking forwarding to seeing her back in the

There is huge demand for these graduates both in NZ and Australia, and both courses boast 100% employment, with many companies vying for these promising new foresters.

Sophie is the 3rd recipient of the SNIWC Scholarship, and we are proud to support our young people entering long careers in the forest sector.

Help for Tinui ANZAC Trust to fight weeds, grow natives Tinui ANZAC Trust has received a $5,000 donation from forestowning neighbour Wairarapa Estate Limited towards the removal of invasive trees around the historic ANZAC memorial cross on Tinui Taipo.

“This contribution towards the regeneration of native forest on this site is incredible,” says Trust Chair Alan Emerson.

Public have had ÿ ve to six years of proper access to the ANZAC memorial. Alan describes the bush and views as “quite spectacular”.

“Thousands of people enjoy the walk every year,” says Alan.

“We want them to enjoy a decent New Zealand bush walk experience as well as the historic aspect of the site.”

However, large regenerating pine trees are preventing the native vegetation from coming through.

The donation will be used

• Forest Management • Forest Valua�on

The New Zealand Forest Owners Association has joined 17 other forest and timber organisations around the world in launching the International Wood Manifesto in London.

to protect and enhance the environment through new native plantings and weed control. Wairarapa Estate’s local property manager, Forest Enterprises will coordinate a working bee for wilding pine removal and contribute labour.

The Manifesto makes a strong case for wood and points to 40 percent of global energy related to CO˛ emissions originating in the construction and built environment.

Against this, the Manifesto identiÿ es “wood being the only sustainable material that grows worldwide which can enable a sustainable decarbonisation of the built environment… providing vast carbon sinks in our rural areas and carbon stores in our cities.”

Wairarapa Estate Limited is part of a fund which owns many investment forest properties in New Zealand, several in the Wairarapa including forests at Tinui.

The Tinui ANZAC Cross is an historic site of international signiÿ cance, being the ÿ rst place in the world to hold a World War I memorial service in 1916. The Tinui ANZAC Trust looks after the memorial and the walkway with the help of donations and volunteer e° ort.

The New Zealand Forest Owners Association Chief Executive, and former Chair of the UN Advisory Committee on Sustainable Forest Industries (ACSFI), David Rhodes, says growing more forests and using more wood is rapidly becoming a key factor in the global e° ort to reduce gross greenhouse gas emission levels.

The walkway is now open for public access through the summer season until the end of April 2022. Visit www.tinui.co.nz/ anzac for more information.

OFFICE 06 377 4443 GUY FARMAN 0274 488 810 EMAIL Guy@�f.co.nz WEBSITE www.FTF.co.nz

• Harves�ng • Log Marke�ng

New Zealand Forest Owners sign on to International Wood Manifesto

• Silviculture • Establishment

“So we are heading in the right direction here in New Zealand. The Climate Change Commission has recommended another 380,000 hectares of plantation forest would need to be planted by 2035 to meet New Zealand’s 2050 carbon zero goal. Our government has implemented a Wood First procurement policy for its construction needs.”

“Perhaps the ÿ rst sign of implementation here is the use of wood fuel in the New Zealand dairy industry, which will replace tens of thousands of tonnes of coal burning a year. Fonterra is already using wood pellets at its Te Awamutu factory with more plants to follow.

This illustrates how wood can not only o° set emissions but actually reduce them as well.”

Sequesters carbon in forests as trees grow.

Stores carbon in harvested wood products.

Substitutes for carbon intensive materials such as steel, concrete and plastics.

Drives Sustainable forest management leading to great growth.

Contributes to a circular economy as wood products can be reused, recycled, and recovered for low carbon energy at their end of life.

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“Forests are a double beneÿ t. The trees themselves sequester carbon from the atmosphere and then the wood used in construction will continue to store that carbon and avoid the need to use carbon emitting steel and concrete,” David Rhodes says.

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26 FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

Thursday, November 18, 2021 Wairarapa Times-Age

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT 27

www.age.co.nz Thursday, November 18, 2021

FORESTRY IN WAIRARAPA Log export report

Log Flow in the New Zealand Forestry Industry For Year Ended December 2020, in tonnes

NOVEMBER 2021

sawmills. Some that have diesel backup generators have switched them on which has put pressure on diesel supplies further complicating transportation and uplift issues. Let’s not forget about Covid, with China continuing with the elimination strategy there have been a reasonable number of sawmills closed in Shandong with outbreaks popping up all over the place.

It might be time to park the gear up and shut for an early Christmas. The export log price slide has continued with November prices now in the mid $90’s for A grade in most ports, except for Gisborne, which is at the mid $70’s level.

While prices in the $90’s are above breakeven in many regions, it’s only really forests very close to a port that will stack up to carry on if prices hold at these levels for an extended period.

While we all know we’re in the commodity game and part of signing up to this is the knowledge that prices ˜ uctuate, sometimes wildly, in reaction to supply and demand imbalances. The scary part of the current situation is the magnitude of this drop which is the largest in both percentage and dollar terms since the 90’s ‘Asian crises’. While most of us had conveniently blocked that fun part of history out of our memory, this situation feels very similar.

So, what’s caused this price drop and how long’s it

going to last for? The drop can be attributed to several reasons. The Chinese market is very sentiment driven so any negative sentiment generally leads to reductions in price. It appears demand has signiÿ cantly reduced in a period where seasonal demand is usually starting to ramp up. Trying to get any meaningful information around demand is very di˛ cult as everyone has di˝ ering opinions and data sources, however, the consensus is a

vastly reduced o˝ take from most Chinese ports.

Freight costs are around double that of the same time last year. While actual sales prices in China are still around $US20/m3 higher than the three-year average, freight has chewed up all of that and some. Much of this cost is in demurrage as Chinese ports have been struggling to handle freight resulting in wait times for a berth of up to 3 weeks.

While freight does appear to

be easing as wait times have reduced considerably on the back of reduced NZ supply, a bumper grain crop in Australia and poor grain harvests in the northern hemisphere has given vessel owners optionality.

Even if the demand was there from the construction sector, continued power supply issues in China from import restrictions on coal (veiled as an intention to reduce carbon emissions) have stopped many factories operating, including

The year ended September 2021, New Zealand delivered around 19.3Mm3 to China, up from 15Mm3 in 2020. Total China softwood imports rose around 7.5Mm3 to 50Mm3 in 2021 with NZ and Europe being the biggest suppliers by a country mile. During the same period, lumber imports dropped by just under 6Mm3 and when the conversion factor from log to lumber is considered, the real lumber usage in China dropped by a magnitude of around 2Mm3 (3.8Mm3 log equivalent) for the 2021 year. These ÿ gures may suggest a slowing in real construction activity has been occurring over the past 12 months and there’s more than likely more to come.

It’s old news that investors in China have been going hard on speculative housing investment which has created a reasonable oversupply which is now coming to the fore with liquidity issues for Evergrande and a number of other aptly named development companies.

The domestic market in NZ continues to be the shining light with continued lumber shortages in retail outlets driving up prices. If I hear another builder complain about the increased cost of lumber being laid squarely at the feet of forest companies because we’re “exporting all the logs”, I’ll go postal. To be very clear, most domestic sawmills are running at capacity with more than enough log supply. Sawmills could increase lumber output ‘simply’ by double shifting their operations (some already are),

however, there’s not much appetite to do this as it would require additional sta˝ and overhead costs for (more than likely), no additional margin.

As the saying goes, “history repeats”. The last decent NZ recession was preceded by a pandemic and maybe this pandemic is a sign of things to come…

Marcus Musson Director Forest360

sniwoodcouncil@gmail.com

Call our expert Land Use Team who can take care of your ETS application.

Our Services

06 379 8600 • office@ahnzl.com www.amalgamatedheli.co.nz

• Forest management and operations, e.g. planting, spraying, thinning, pruning.

• Harvest planning, management and log marketing.

• Carbon & ETS advice including the sale/purchase of credits.

• On farm land use assessments – fi nancial modelling, carbon profiles, marginal land options & grant funding assistance.

• Change of forest ownership/succession advice (ETS implications).

• Forest valuations and inventory, feasibility assessment and planning. www.forest360.nz | 0800 366 700 70D Chapel Street Masterton | info@forest360.nz

Processed in New Zealand

32,899,000

12,826,000

Chip export

32,909,000 Log export

Sawlogs and peelers

8,168,000

961,000

12,826,000

Sawmills

7,207,000 Forest residues Not available

THE INDIGENOUS TREE HARVEST NOW REPRESENTS LESS THAN 0.03% OF THE TOTAL.

Source

Log Flow in the New Zealand Forestry Industry MPI

WOODSMANPRO.CO.NZ

0273 290 498

sniwoodcouncil.co.nz/

400,000 Pulp

3,275,000

Reconstituted panels

773,000

Plywood

Processed in New Zealand

20,083,000

Poles

200,000

Total log input

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.

WE ADD VALUE AT EVERY STAGE OF THE GROWTH CYCLE

+ FireFighting,Pest Control, Forestry Surveys + Aerial Release and Pre Plant Spraying + Boron Application + Proof of application provided by DGPS Data

From plantation forest

10,000

So, in summary, it’s ugly, it’s probably going to be ugly until February next year, at least.

There’s several in˜ uencing factors that we haven’t seen before in the Chinese economy and it’s a crap shoot to see how these will a˝ ect log demand.

Harvesting crews are being slowed or stopped nation wide and NZ supply is likely to drastically reduce for the remainder of the year. If you’re holding out for $150 A grade you may be waiting a while.

PLANTED THIS WINTER? CONSIDER ENTERING THE ETS

AHNZL supporting Forestry since 1987 "Fly With Experience"

From indigenous forest

Plant residues (estimated)

3,676,000