Friday Offcuts – 19 February 2010
The Tasmanian Government has also been proactive in the last week or so. Due to a downturn in wood chip exports and with the threat of closure of two of the largest chip mills for an eight week period, an export plan has been developed for an additional 800,000 tonnes of woodchips to Asia. On top of this, recognising the hardship that's being experienced by some of the State's forestry contractors, an AU$600,000 Forest Contractors Support Program support program has just been set up for three months to assist the contractors. A few extras. We're running a story this week about the TrustPower ElectroTECH EXPO. It's an expo which will feature over 50 stands from equipment and service suppliers from across the electrical trade spectrum. It's been set up in Rotorua, New Zealand for Thursday, 11th March 2010. If you're involved in the electrical trades around the central North Island, this may well be for you. We've had further comment this week on the World's Oldest Tree. A couple of weeks ago we reported that the Swedes were claiming that one of theirs, a lone Norway spruce, was the oldest living tree. Last week an Australian reader suggested that Huon Pine may well be the oldest - saying that while the oldest individual tree or stem on the Tasmanian site now may be one to two thousand years old, the organism itself has been living there continuously for at least 10,000 years. This week we have a reader from NSW who has come up with another couple of suggestions for the title. Check out Offcuts Letters to find out where. And finally, this week we have a short poll for you to see just how tuned in you are to recent developments of plantation growth and forestry investment in South America. Further information on the rapidly changing South American situation is contained in a story below - with a detailed and full analysis being supplied as part of the Future Forestry Finance event which runs in Sydney and Auckland in just over a week. Subscribe a friend
This week we have for you:
Wood supply chain optimisation tools to be profiled
A wide cross section of the industry - both here and overseas - have been involved in the design of this new technology programme. Wood Supply Chain Optimisation 2010 will be detailing successful strategies that have been adopted to improve planning, logistics and operations through the wood supply chain. Harvesting and transport costs for example are 40-60% of the delivered costs of logs yet it's only recently that new optimisation tools have being researched, designed and adopted by leading forest products companies to improve their efficiencies. Profitability has been improved, from the forest right through to the market. How leading companies are employing and using these technologies operationally will be a major focus for the 19-20 May 2010 Melbourne event and the24-25 May 2010 Rotorua event. Leading companies that have worked with global forest products companies - including many in this part of the world - will be complimenting local forestry companies who are using many of the new tools to improve their returns through the supply chain - from forest through to market. International companies involved in enterprise planning include; HALCO Software Systems, Canada, Remsoft Inc, Canada, Tieto Forest & Manufacturing, USA, TRIMBLE, USA and Progressive Solutions Inc, Canada. Further details will follow in future issues of the newsletter. At this stage, more information on this technology series can be found on www.woodsupplychain.com.
Another world scale pellet plant announced
General Biofuels Canada (GBC), a subsidiary of international Biofuels company General Biofuels, has announced that they're planning a 500,000 metric tonne per year wood pellet facility in Terrace, British Columbia. The facility will make industrial wood pellets from local hemlock fibre sources harvested from sustainably managed forests.
Woodchips export plan to save mill jobs
It was announced late last week that the Tasmanian Government had developed a plan to export an extra 800,000 tonnes of woodchips to Asia. Gunns' Triabunna and Longreach mills were due to close for eight weeks from late March, due to a downturn in woodchip exports. It was predicted this would put about 150 forest contractors out of work, and prompted calls for an industry assistance package.
Rudd's ETS heads for the Senate & again
The Australian Government's embattled emissions trading scheme is on its way back to the Senate for a third time. Former Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull voted with the Government, but didn't have to officially cross the floor of the House last week to support the bills on their final vote.
Expressions of interest - ScanTECH 2010
With the installations that are going on at the moment and level of interest by local companies, ScanTECH 2010 is being planned to run on 21-22 July 2010 in Rotorua and for Australian sawmilling companies, on 26-27 July 2010 in Melbourne. The very latest in advances in log merchandising and edger and trimmer optimisation, updates on true shape scanning, designing and integrating sophisticated breakdown equipment in the mill, developments in commercializing X-ray and CT internal log scanning, acoustic tools for measuring strength and stiffness, ultra-sound scanning for determining internal log checking and optimization software to determine the best value solution for processing each log are expected to be covered in this July 2010 series. Both programmes will be designed shortly. In addition to companies that have already expressed an interest in being involved, any additional companies/organisations that would like to be involved in presenting, exhibiting or participating in this technology series, please contact brent.apthorp@fiea.org.nz before FRIDAY 26 February.
Rotorua confirmed for TrustPower ElectroTECH Show
For all you sparkies out there - Kiwi ones anyway working within the wood products industry - Rotorua's lakefront hotel - the Novotel Lakeside has been confirmed as the venue for the first annual TrustPower ElectroTECH EXPO which will run on Thursday 11 March 2010. A range of new electrical tools and technology developments will be on show for electrical contractors and many others in the electrical trade at the full-day expo.
Chinese New Year sees dip in freight index
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)
How do South American timberland investments stack up?
For new planting, in Brazil, as in much of the world, it has been focussed on eucalyptus, not pine. Even in Chile, new planting has shifted to more eucalyptus than pine. Brazil's total harvest of eucalyptus dwarfs that of other countries. Its harvest in 2008 was close to eight times that of Australia's. Brazil is also the leader in softwood timber harvest in South America, but Chile isn't far behind. Both countries have higher wood production levels than in either Australia or New Zealand. Foreign ownership of plantation forests in South America ranges from just 4% in Chile through to 69% in Uruguay. Of the foreign owned forest plantations in South America, about 2/3 are owned by manufacturing companies and 1/3 by financial investors (e.g. TIMO's). Most (84%) of foreign investment in plantations by the forest industry has been focussed in two countries (see poll in this weeks issue) with about 40% owned by Chilean companies. It just isn't timber either. There has also been a lot of recent activity with investment in biomass energy in South America. How South American investments stack up will be detailed in the upcoming Future Forestry Finance conference series by Bob Flynn, Director, International Timber, RISI, USA. Full details on the programme which runs in Sydney and Auckland in just over a week can be found on www.forestryfinanceevents.com
Specifying Sustainable Timber Guide launched
Timber Queensland, the body representing the State's $4 billion per annum forest and timber industry, has released a guideline to help architects, builders and designers correctly specify timber that has been obtained from legal and sustainable sources.
Tasmania's special timbers zone set up
The strategy will underpin management and sale of special timbers for the next decade. The highlight of the strategy is the 100,000-hectare Special Timbers Zone which will ensure the long-term supply of this resource to the Tasmanians who depend on it for their livelihoods. Special timbers are an integral part of the Tasmanian "brand", and are renowned around Australia and the world for their quality and beauty. The special timbers sector is characterised by a significant degree of downstream processing, such as fine furniture making, joinery, boat building, giftware and musical instrument making. The manufacture and sale of high value products from special timbers provides employment for more than 2,000 Tasmanians and generates about AU$70 million for the state each year. A further 8,500 people use special timbers in woodcraft activities as a hobby or on a limited commercial basis. Tasmania's special timbers are among the last premium timbers being produced from public forests in Australia. The zone will ensure maximum resource recovery and continued presence of special timbers within regenerated stands, which will be regrown for at least 200 years. Source: Branchline, Forestry Tasmania
Wooden multi-storey buildings suited to earthquake zones
Andy Buchanan of Canterbury University says that if the presidential palace in Haiti had been built with a modern structural framework of wood, chances are it would not have collapsed so badly in the recent devastating earthquake. While the palace is understood to have been built of reinforced concrete, Prof Buchanan says the worst buildings in earthquakes are built with un-reinforced masonry. Many of those in Port-au-Prince are believed to fall into this category. New Zealand engineers learned the lesson in the 1855 Wellington earthquake. The old Government Buildings, built in 1876, have proved that wooden buildings can last the distance. Although not put to the test by another earthquake of the 8.2 magnitude quake of 1855, or even one of the size of the Haitian quake, there is a high chance the building would still perform well. More >> Source: NZ Wood
NZ Bioenergy Development Strategy to be developed
A workshop was held in February for those forest owners interested in the opportunities for expanding the use of bio-energy so that it becomes a significant contributor to New Zealands energy supply. More than 90 participants including representatives from government agencies, forest owners, wood processors, users of wood energy and liquid biofuels producers attended.
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...and one to end the week on...proud to be a Queenslander
PROUD TO BE A QUEENSLANDER And on that note, have a great weekend. Cheers. We welcome comments and contributions on Friday Offcuts. For details on advertising for positions within the forest products industry or for products and services, either within the weekly newsletter or on this web page, please contact us.
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