A quick follow-up from last week's lead stories. We reported on planned legislation in Tasmania that was aimed at ensuring prime agricultural land was going to be used only for intensive cropping, dairying and other similar agricultural purposes. Tree plantations, if Premier, Paul Lennon gets his way, won't be allowed to encroach on some of this "top agricultural land". The pressure this week has continued unabated in Tasmania by both campaigners and the media.
The head of Sustainable Agricultural Communities, Robert Belcher, has been quoted in ABC Rural online saying curbs on development and forestry plantations just can't come quickly enough. Anti-plantation campaigner Malcolm Ryan also came out this week discussing the recent decision by the Forestry Practices Tribunal against plans for establishing a plantation on the east coast based upon water usage. Ryan is putting pressure on the Tasmanian Government to do much more to protect water usage by limiting timber plantations.
However, there was something positive that did come out in the Tasmanian debate last week. One of the Council's in Tasmania's north east ruled against a motion aiming to tighten guidelines for the establishment of forestry plantations. The motion was calling for an amendment to the planning scheme so that landowners, in addition to getting a council permit to harvest timber would also be required to get a permit before establishing a plantation on private land. Sanity prevailed. The motion was shot down on the grounds it was "not in the best interests of the community".
Finally, SawTech 2007 kicks off next week. Most Australian sawmilling companies will be meeting in Melbourne on Wednesday through to Friday of next week to be briefed on a wide range of new technologies for improving efficiencies in both the sawmill and in the sawshop. New Zealand sawmillers will be meeting the following week, on 26-28 November. If you still haven't registered and are looking to attend, register your interest by calling Ph: +64 7 921 1380. Of course, we're looking forward to meeting many of you there.
Funding for new patented timber processing operation
A breakthrough development by Wood Engineering Technology Limited is taking a big step closer to full production with the backing of investment from the Foundation for Research, Science & Technology in New Zealand.
The patented process developed by Wood Engineering Technology allows "K" logs, the lower value non-structural log output from Radiata pine plantations, to be manufactured efficiently into engineered wood products. The end product is high value certified structural lumber for the New Zealand and global building industry.
The Foundation has approved an investment of more than NZ$225,000 from its Technology New Zealand suite to part-fund a technology pilot plant that will produce an initial quantity of marketable product under the brand name OEL (Optimised Engineered Lumber). Planning is under way to build the first commercial-sized modular plant, with a capacity to produce 50,000 cubic metres of OEL per year, enough to build approximately 4,000 New Zealand houses. Further plants are expected to follow throughout Australasia.
The OEL product is a direct substitute for structural lumber and is ideal for house building. It meets all building code requirements to a high degree of reliability - exceeding the performance of existing structural lumber while being consistently straight and true. The manufacturing process is so efficient and cost competitive that the OEL product will be able to be marketed at a lower price than equivalent structural lumber, even though it is significantly superior in its characteristics.
"The technology can be applied to feedstock not suited to traditional saw-milling, such as small diameter, crooked, or short logs. Because OEL uses logs that are currently exported at low value - generally to Korea for packaging or concrete form work - it fundamentally changes the economics of sawmilling and structural timber products" Wood Engineering Technology director Tony Johnston said. More >>
Australian companies sign carbon offset deal
Woodside Petroleum Ltd has announced it will spend AU$100 million with Australian Securities Exchange-listed forestry company CO2 Australia Ltd, planting mallee trees to help offset its carbon emissions from the Pluto gas field in West Australia's north-west. The program will be accredited under the federal government's Greenhouse Friendly Program. CO2 Australia is the only Commonwealth accredited carbon offset group in Australia.
The L-N-G project is currently under construction near Karratha and is expected to generate more than 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over its 20 year lifetime. The abatement programme will involve planting trees in New South Wales and in Western Australia over 2008 and 2009, with the option of undertaking additional plantings in 2010, 2011 and 2012 to offset about 20 per cent of Woodside's total emissions.
Agforce wrong on Queensland property sale to treefarmers
Executive Director of Treefarm Investment Managers Australia, Alan Cummine has come out and said that Agforce has seriously misrepresented the recent property sale of the Lakelands Downs property, "Gold Tyne", to integrated forestry and timber company, ITC Limited in far north Queensland to a managed investment tree farm company.
"The facts are that the expansion of the plantation industry in the past decade has occurred without any special tax incentives. The growers in tree farm managed investment schemes have had access to the same basic tax arrangements as grazing, cropping and dairy farming enterprises. They claim deductions for their non-capital business expenditure in the year they incur it, and pay tax on the profit from the enterprise when received" Mr Cummine said.
Mr Cummine said that tree farm managers are often outbid for suitable land, mostly by neighbouring farmers, or by overseas interests, as has happened in the dairy and intensive agriculture country in southern Australia. He said many factors influence land prices in Australia's highly competitive land market. Any rational analysis of published rural land sales data provides no evidence of tree farm MIS's forcing up prices or distorting values. In the year 2005, for example, only 3% of the total turnover of rural properties were bought for managed investment schemes.
Wood Processors Association Chief Executive Peter Bodeker has supported the call for an enquiry into timber treatments. Responding to the call from National MP Bob Clarkson (see press release here) for a review of timber treatment, Bodeker stated the industry has already made a request to the Department of Building and Housing to undertake a review of a number of aspects of timber treatment.
As a result of consensus within the Wood Processors Association, whose members represent up to 75% of the processed timber in New Zealand, WPA has called for a review to include a rationalisation of the treated timber options required in buildings, a review of any health and safety issues associated with timber treatments and methods to dispose of treated timber wood waste. The call for this review has come from within industry.
This latest seminar series from the NZ Timber Design Society on Sustainability in Commercial Building will run in Wellington on 21st November 2007 at Victoria University and again in Christchurch a day later, 22nd November 2007 at the University of Canterbury. The purpose of the seminar series is to promote the use of timber in New Zealand building projects by informing building professionals about the unique attributes offered by this renewable material.
The seminar content will bring the delegates up to date with many of the latest developments in timber design. This seminar is recommended for architects, engineers, designers, builders, building inspectors, certifiers, developers, university engineering and architectural students. For programme information check out www.timberdesign.org.nz.
Certification for Australian flooring manufacturer
Kempsey based Australian Solar Timbers (AST) has become the first Australian mainland hardwood flooring manufacturer to be accredited under the Australian Forestry Standard Chain of Custody Certification Scheme. Federal Forestry Minister Minister Senator Eric Abetz officially launched the accreditation of AST in Kempsey last Thursday, also attending was Geoff Gorrie Chair of The Australian Forestry Standard board.
AST employs over 90 people at its mill at Kempsey and distributes its products nationally through a range of independent distributor's in each mainland state. AST is the first company to be Chain of Custody certified in NSW. AST produces 16 different species of timber flooring. It sources the majority of its timber from Forests NSW and has a wide range of species available under the independently audited Chain of Custody certification.
Impacts of Russian log export duties
Based on company visits in September 2007 by International WOOD Markets Group, it seems likely the Russian government will implement the proposed 80% softwood log export duty on January 1, 2009. If this happens, it is anticipated that almost all of Russia's current 50 million m3 of annual softwood and hardwood log exports would be curtailed, at least in terms of most of the legal volumes.
The global log trade could lose 40-45 million m3 of industrial softwood and hardwood logs per year - equal to almost 35% of current global log exports. The good news is that removal of this huge volume of log exports from global markets will probably result in higher world log prices, as well as new log-export opportunities for many regions of the world after implementation of the tax.
The bad news is that growing exports of manufactured products by new, low-cost Russian mills is expected to increase competition in the wood products markets of Europe, Japan, the Middle East and, eventually, North America. The biggest single question in this equation is, "Will Russia actually implement what appears to be a devastating 80% log export tax on January 1, 2009?" And if it doesn't, what other scenarios could play out instead? Source: WOOD Markets Monthly, October 2007 Report (www.woodmarkets.com)
The first veneer shipment from the AU$35 million Ta Ann rotary veneer mill in the Huon, Tasmania which opened in August is being sent to Japan to become high-quality flooring. The first shipment comprised of 12,000 cubic-metres and is the first of 80,000 cubic metres to be exported each year from Hobart. Ta Ann director Simon Kang said the shipment of rotary-peeled re-growth and plantation wood from the southern forests was worth more than AU$3.4 million. A similar mill will start operating at Smithton next year. Source: Hobart Mercury
JK Rowling awarded for role in forest protection
Before a rare public reading at the opening event of YoungIFOA in Toronto, JK Rowling accepted an award in recognition of the role she has played helping save Canada's and the world's forests. Canadian environmental organization Markets Initiative presented Rowling with The Order of the Forest, citing Rowling's direct hand in transforming the publishing industry. Previous recipients include writer Alice Munro and publisher McClelland & Stewart.
Rowling is credited with encouraging 16 of her publishers to print her books on environmental papers, spawning a trend that has seen an additional 300 publishers, including HarperCollins UK and Random House US, adopt green paper policies. Ms. Rowling is the first international author to be awarded the Order of the Forest.
"JK Rowling asked her international publishers to find paper that was free of ancient or endangered forests. With millions of her books now printed on 'green' paper, she's helped take the heat off of carbon and biodiversity storehouses like Canada's Boreal Forest," said Nicole Rycroft, executive director of Vancouver-based Markets Initiative. Markets Initiative began working with Rowling's Canadian publisher in 2000, Rowling in 2003, and with hundreds of publishers and paper mills since to turn other books 'green'.
The last book in the Potter series is considered within the industry to be the most environmentally friendly in publishing history. Sixteen countries are now printing the book on eco-friendly paper up from one publisher, Canada's Raincoast Books, in 2003. Source: RISI Pulp & Paper
Climate change: why China matters
As the economy grows apace in China, so does pollution and it looks set to be a global problem. In 1990 China's CO2 emissions were around 50% of US (the biggest producer) levels. Now China lies just behind the US and is expected to overtake it as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. With a booming economy and 1.3 billion people, China is the world's largest consumer of coal and oil consumption has doubled in the last 20 years. However, as a developing country it is not required to cut emissions under the 2002 Kyoto Protocol.
"China is strongly committed in the fight against climate change and to engage in the area of emissions reductions, energy-saving, and energy-efficiency. At the same time, it acknowledges the importance of cooperating with industrialised countries on technology and technology transfer, as well as the need for financial assistance in this field, said the European Parliament's Chairman from the Temporary Committee on Climate Change, Guido Sacconi.
However, he added, "One critical issue remains: the fact that, at this stage, China still considers that the current structure of the Kyoto Protocol should be maintained and developing countries, including emerging economies, should have no quantitative commitments." More >>
Wiremu from New Zealand moved to a small town in Australia and bought a pet koala from one of his new friends for $100.
After a few days, the koala got sick and died, so Wiremu asked his friend for his money back.
"Sorry", said his friend, "but it's not my fault it died".
"That's okay", Wiremu told him, "I'll raffle it ".
"You can't raffle off a dead koala!" his friend told Wiremu.
A week later, Wiremu is chatting with his friend and his friend asked: "How did the raffle go?"
"I made $898 from that koala", said Wiremu.
"How?!" exclaimed the friend.
"I bought it from you for $100, and sold 500 raffle tickets at two bucks each".
"Yeah, but wasn't anyone angry that the koala was dead?" asked the friend.
"Just the guy that won", replied Wiremu. "So I gave him his money back".
And on that note, have a great weekend. Cheers.
Brent Apthorp
Innovatek
PO Box 904
Level Two, 2 Dowling Street
Dunedin, New Zealand
Ph: +64 3 470 1902
Fax: +64 3 470 1904
Web page: www.innovatek.co.nz
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