Exciting industry award initiative for Eastland

With over a million tonnes of trees harvested each year in the Tairawhiti region on the North Island's East Coast, there is no better reason to celebrate and acknowledge the huge workforce of 1450 people directly involved with achieving successful harvesting, transporting and processing annually.

The East Coast Forestry Council has initiated an inaugural Awards Programme which will reward these trained employees and highlight that they are an extremely important asset to the forestry industry. It will also be the objective of the group to raise the profile of the industry, including all those that are within its workforce and supporters.

In association with FITEC, the NZ national training organisation, there are three awards that recognise training excellence, five sections that award skilled professionals including contractor of the year and four further awards that recognise industry development including "Outstanding Business Innovation". Completing the awards programme is the top overall major prize "Eastland Wood Council Skilled Professional of the Year".

Nomination forms will be available by Feb 1, 2010 and close April 2, 2010. The winners of the awards will be celebrated at an official gala dinner at the Emerald Hotel on May 7, 2010.

Gunns now last bidder for Great Southern

Gunns is still facing an uphill battle against voter apathy to gain the right to manage Great Southern's pulpwood assets, despite being the only bidder left. The Australian Financial Review reports that rival bidders Black Tree and Pulpwood Plantations have pulled out of the bidding war.

Pulpwood held a grower investor meeting in Perth last week but withdrew its proposal before a vote, following low levels of proxy support. To progress, it needed 50 per cent of grower votes in each scheme and 75 per cent of votes present at the meeting.
Black Tree suspended its proposal late on Wednesday night.

Gunns plans its own meeting on December 23, at which it hopes grower investors will vote it in as the new responsible entity, but the company is worried about low voter turnout.

Hardwood surpasses softwood costs in pulp industry

Hardwood fibre costs for the global pulp industry have surpassed the cost for softwood fibre in 2009 as demand for hardwood pulp rose, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. Higher hardwood pulpwood costs in Brazil, Australia, Russia and Sweden pushed the 3Q/09 Global Hardwood Fibre Price Index (HFPI) to the highest level in 12 months. The HFPI was over six percent higher than the Global Softwood Fibre Price Index (SFPI), the biggest difference in 21 years. The regions included in the Indices together account for 85-90% of the world's wood based pulp production capacity. Source: Wood Resources International LLC, www.woodprices.com

Woodchips pile up at mills across Tasmania

As international demand for woodchips plummets, woodchip mills across Tasmania face Christmas closures, ABC news reported. Woodchips are piling up at wharves around the state, leading to Christmas curtailments of up to six weeks at mills in Triabunna, Launceston and Burnie.

Forest Industries Association chief executive Terry Edwards said the shuts could last even longer, as no ships are scheduled. He attributed to closures to significant stockpiles and no market to send the chips to at this stage. Edwards said many companies are facing significant pressures to find reliable markets. Source: www.forestweb.com

Australian Commodity Statistics 2009 released

ABARE (Australian Bureau of Agricultural & Resources Economics) has released it's Australian Commodity Statistics 2009 report. The report contains overview and macroeconomic information as well as key statistics on the supply of and demand for more than forty commodities including forestry. It covers current and historical data on price, production and export information, with some historical series extending over forty years. To view or download a copy visit the ABARE website: www.abare.gov.au. Source: IFA Bulletin

Double-digit growth for wood pellets in next 5 years

Wood pellets are underpinning the emergence of a new commodities business in biomass. The key driver is bioenergy and P

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How have Japanese forest products markets fared in 2009?

Japanese housing starts have been declining steadily since 2006 and are forecast to fall to about 765,000 in 2009, from 1.06 million in 2008 (-28%) and 1.29 million in 2006 (-41%). This will likely improve somewhat during the coming economic upturn, but forecasts indicate that Japanese housing starts could take three years just to get back to 900,000 units by 2013. Changing population demographics and the construction of better-quality/longer-lasting single-family homes should lead to permanent reductions from the level achieved in 20002006 of around 1.2 million units.

The Russian log export tax that currently is at a minimum of Euro15/m3 (25%) has drastically reduced Russian log imports from five million m3 in 2006 to an estimated 800,000 m3 in 2009 (-84%). Paralleling with reduced Russian log imports, Japanese lumber imports have fallen steadily from 10.3 million m3 in 2000 to an estimated 5.9 million m3 in 2009 (-43%). Since 2006, lumber imports have decreased from 8.9 million m3 to 5.9 million m3 (-34%). The sudden drop in lumber imports, like log imports, is due mainly to falling housing starts and increased domestic lumber production from native softwood forests.

Imports of North American lumber have decreased from 5.3 million m3 in 2000 to an estimated 2.2 million m3 in 2009 (-59%). The main beneficiary has been Europe: European softwood lumber imports increased to over three million m3 in 2006 from almost nothing in early 1990s. European lumber imports declined in 2007 and 2008 (as the euro strengthened), but appear to be regaining market share: they are anticipated to rise by about 15% in 2009 over 2008 (2.3 million m3 versus 2.0 million m3). North American lumber imports are forecast to drop to about 2.15 million m3 in 2009 from 2.9 million m3 in 2008 (-25%). This will be the lowest level of North American lumber exports to Japan since the 1970s.

Laminated lumber imports peaked at 806,000 m3 in 2006 before declining to 404,000 m3 in 2008; 2009's figure will be similar.

Source: International Wood Markets Group, www.woodmarkets.com

Govt to consult with industry on ETS allocations

The New Zealand Government last Friday released a consultation document as a first step in the process of allocating emission units to industry under the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

"The most complex aspect of the ETS is allocations for trade-exposed industries that are emissions intensive. These are necessary to avoid the problem of exporting these industries and their emissions and jobs offshore", Minister for Climate Change Issues Nick Smith says.

"The law provides for allocations to industries at 60% for those on 800 tonnes per $1 million revenue and 90% for those on 1600 tonnes per $1 million revenue. This process is about identifying those firms and putting the systems in place to provide their allocation."

"The consultation document lists industrial activities that might be eligible for an allocation. The Government wants firms that conduct these activities to identify themselves. It also wants firms that perform other activities that may also be eligible to receive an allocation to come forward."

"New Zealand has aligned its approach to industry allocations closely with that which was proposed under the Australian Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Delays with this scheme mean New Zealand is going to need to advance work on allocations ahead of Australia." Submissions close on 12 February 2010.

The consultation document can be downloaded here. More >>

Ocean freight index movements

The Baltic Supramax Index (BSI) closed during the week at 2420 points, an increase of 7% or 163 points since last months report. The yearly average for the BSI currently stands at 1632 points.

The BSI (Baltic Supramax Index), published by the Baltic Exchange, is the weighted average on 5 major time-charter routes. It is based on a 52,454 mt bulk carrier carrying commodities such as timber.

(Source: Cotzias Shipping)

The Tree Planter's Waltz - check out the video

As we wind down to Xmas, you might want to take 5 minutes out to take a look at a video clip titled the "The Tree Planters Waltz". The url to the clip was originally sent by Baba Brinkman (one of the family, musician and tree planter) with the following description: The people in the opening scenes of the video (filmed in 1977) are my parents and aunts and uncles and their circle of close friends, and the people in the scenes shot in 2009 are my brother and sister and I and our circle of close friends, so tree planting is very much in our blood. If you're curious about the company and the history of tree planting in Canada, visit: brinkmanforest.ca. Source: Tree Frog Daily Forestry News

Click Here to Watch Video

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...and one to end the year on...a trio of end of week stories

One of our readers said that he finally put up his Xmas tree - it took him a week or so - but he got there.




































Number two. A man in Scotland calls his son in London the day before Christmas Eve and says, "I hate to ruin your day but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough."

"Dad, what are you talking about?" the son screams.

"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer the father says.We're sick of each other and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Leeds and tell her."

Franticly, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like hell they're getting divorced!" she shouts, "I'll take care of this!"

She calls Scotland immediately, and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Sorted! They're coming for Christmas - and they're paying their own way."




And finally, an 80-year old woman was arrested for shoplifting. When she went before the judge in Geelong he asked her, "What did you steal?

"She replied, "A can of peaches."

The judge then asked her why she had stolen the can of peaches and she replied that she was hungry. The judge then asked her how many peaches were in the can. She replied, "6.".

The judge then said, "I will then give you 6 days in jail."

Before the judge could actually pronounce the punishment, the woman's husband spoke up and asked the judge if he could say something.

The judge said, "What is it?"

The husband said, "She also stole a can of peas."

And on that note, have a great, safe and a relaxing Xmas break with friends and family. See you all next year. 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


This week's extended issue, along with back issues, can be viewed at www.fridayoffcuts.com