Good future for private woodlots

Press, 3 December 1982, Page 21

Good future for private woodlots

Despite the downturn in the timber industry, owners of private woodlots in Canterbury are in a strong position. and are likely to dominate the local sawlog trade for the next decade, according to figures published in the annual report of the Canterbury Forestry Foundation. The foundation’s directors say that in 1981 private owners supplied 47 per cent of the sawn timber cut in Canterbury, and local-bodies and the Forest Service provided the remainder. If the sawmills maintain their production levels during the next eight years, private growers will be supplying more than 60 per cent of the cut by 1991. The reasons given for this are that: • Canterbury has a shortage of wood as a result of windthrow and past planting imbalances. • . • A scarcity of mature wood in State forests in Canterbury will result in a substantial decrease in the supply of logs from this source until the mid-19905.

• A large number of sawmills in Canterbury are competing for an increasingly scarce resource.

If the foundation’s market projections are realised, it is likely that many old shelter belts and plantations will disappear from Canterbury farms during the next decade. By the mid-19905, according to the foundation, large volumes of high-quality, pruned sawlogs will come "on stream,’’ and when this happens the prices paid for unpruned or shelter-belt sawlogs will cease to be attractive to the grower. '“Owners of mature shelterbelts which may now be a liability and owners of unthinned . and unpruned radiata woodlots which are older than 20 to 25 years should seriously consider selling these within the next decade,”, says the foundation’s report. The foundation is a cooperative marketing organisation set up by the Canterbury Central Farm Forestry Association, and its membership includes growers, sawmillers, and at least one local body. Its report shows that last year, in only its second full year of operation, it handled timber sales worth $352,000. Most of the timber sold through the foundation was

radiata pine, and the report shows that the stumpage paid for this timber has increased substantially in the last 12 months — from an average of $15.35 per cubic metre to $22.94. This reflects, the foundation says, the strong position of the private-forest owner in Canterbury. But it notes that because of the economic recession and the decline in the export timber trade sales of sawn timber have. dropped and the demand for sawlogs has slackened. It recognises that there is a limit to the stumpages which can be paid to keep the sawmilling industry viable. “Stumpage prices have remained firm, however, although they have levelled off after the marked increases six months ago. Growers can expect up to $24-25 per cubic metre at present as an average price in Canterbury for unpruned radiata sawlogs of average quality," the report says. "In contrast, the market for post material has declined significantly and prices have dropped,” says the foundation, which is advising its members not to sell post-size trees until prices improve.