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| ABARE’s 2007 sawmill survey |
| Between July and October 2007, ABARE undertook a survey of Australian sawmills in order to resolve concerns regarding the reliability of sawnwood production data collected in Australia and presented in this publication. In particular, since the cancellation of a number of state-based surveys by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and state government agencies in 2004, there have been no consistent estimates of sawntimber production available for Australia. The results from this survey provide consistent and reliable estimates of broadleaved and coniferous sawntimber production, using a standardised approach and definitions across each state of Australia. The survey also provides a valuable link in ABARE’s forest sector database, and allows cross-checking with other data collections, such as log harvest estimates. The survey received support from the Forest Industries Branch of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), Forest and Wood Products Australia (formerly the Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation), the Australian Plantation Products and Paper Industry Council (A3P) and the National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI). Assistance was also provided by DAFF’s Levies Revenue Service (LRS) and many state forest agencies and state-based industry associations. Ongoing surveys will be dependent on the future support of these organisations. |
| Survey methodology |
| To compile a database of sawmills in Australia, ABARE consulted a variety of sources, including state forest agency licence records, available industry association records and private consultant databases. A significant amount of effort was involved in the compilation and cross-checking of this sawmill population database. ABARE received invaluable assistance from several state-based industry associations in this process. Table A presents the sawmill population estimates for each state of Australia in 2006-07. New South Wales and Queensland account for the majority of broadleaved mills in Australia, and in both states, a substantial proportion of these mills are in the smallest size category. In contrast, the broadleaved sawmill structure in Victoria and Tasmania is less weighted to the smallest size class, with a larger proportion of mills processing between 3000 and 45 000 cubic metres of sawlog in 2006-07. Queensland has the highest number of coniferous sawmills in Australia, although more than half of these are mills processing logs from the native cypress pine resource, which also tend to be smaller in scale than coniferous sawmills based on pine plantation timber. New South Wales and South Australia have the second and third highest number of sawmills, respectively, however a relatively large proportion of these are smaller scale (less than 45 000 cubic metres of log input in 2006-07). In contrast, Victoria has a relatively low number of coniferous sawmills, but has the highest number of sawmills processing more than 100 000 cubic metres of sawlog. There are estimated to be 23 mills in the “more than 100 000” cubic metres of input size category, including only one broadleaved mill with the remainder coniferous. While this category represents a small proportion of the mill population, it accounts for a significant proportion of total coniferous sawnwood production. In addition, this size category consists of a broad range of mill sizes, with four mills estimated to process more than 500 000 cubic metres of input. The diversity and significance of this stratum imply that representative sampling and weighting are critical to deriving meaningful results. Each mill was assigned to a stratum, representing the size, state and log species of the mill. A random sample of mills was chosen from each stratum, sufficient to derive a statistically significant estimate of log input and sawnwood production from each. To assist with the response to the survey, participation was sought from the national forest industry associations, NAFI and A3P. A letter co-signed by these organisations and ABARE was sent to all sawmills in the population list, and consequently the response to the survey was very good. In total 214 mills were surveyed. |
| Survey results |
| This summary presents aggregated results derived from ABARE’s survey. More detailed results will be published in the future. Table B presents the estimated volume of sawlogs processed by sawmills in each state in 2006-07. More than 3 million cubic metres of broadleaved sawlogs and more than 8.5 million cubic metres of coniferous sawlogs were processed in Australian sawmills in 2006-07. New South Wales sawmills processed the most, accounting in the same period for around 37 per cent of broadleaved sawlog processing and 31 per cent of coniferous sawlogs. Victoria and Tasmania were also significant processors of broadleaved sawlogs, while Victoria, Queensland and South Australia were significant processors of coniferous logs. The survey also provides respondents’ estimates of the tenure of the logs they process. For this survey, public logs refer to those derived from forests managed by government agencies or public corporations on either public or private land. Thus, logs derived from a private forest, on farmland which is managed by a state forest agency, are regarded as public logs for this survey. Private logs are those sourced from forests managed by private companies, on both public and private land. Thus, coniferous plantations in Victoria, that were planted by government agencies and remain on public land, but which are now managed by HVP Plantations, are regarded as private logs in this survey. It should also be noted the figures presented here represent survey respondents’ estimates of the provenance of the logs and have not been otherwise verified. The survey estimated that across Australia almost one-quarter of broadleaved sawlogs were sourced from private forests in 2006-07. While this includes both native forests and plantations, by far the majority of broadleaved sawlogs continue to be sourced from native forests in Australia. Queensland and New South Wales had the highest share of broadleaved sawlogs sourced from private forests. Almost one-third of coniferous sawlogs processed in Australia were harvested from private forests in 2006-07. The majority of these logs were sourced from coniferous plantations, although the data presented here include cypress pine logs from native forests. Victoria accounted for the largest share of private coniferous sawlogs, principally from the coniferous estate operated by HVP Plantations. A large proportion of this estate was formerly state owned plantation and privatised in 1998, although the land remains publicly owned. |
| Consistency of the results with other data |
| These results are significant because they are the only national sawmill production data currently available that are collected in a consistent and robust manner. However it is important to assess the consistency of these results with other available data sources. Table C presents a comparison of the sawmill log input data collected in the survey with the sawlog harvest data provided in table 6 of this report. The log harvest data are collected from the principal forest growers and major log purchasers in Australia. These data include estimates of public forest harvest volumes from state forest agency records and private forest harvest volumes from private coniferous companies. They also include estimates from state agencies, industry associations and other sources where available. The comparison indicates there are some discrepancies between the survey data and existing sawlog availability estimates. ABARE will continue to reconcile these alternative estimates of sawlogs processed in Australian sawmills through consultation with state forest agencies and industry experts, however some discrepancies can easily be explained by interstate movements of logs. |
| Estimates of sawnwood production |
| The survey provides estimates of sawnwood production for each quarter of 2006-07, for each state and species. These data are presented in table 12 of this report. The survey estimated broadleaved sawnwood production in 2006-07 at more than 1.1 million cubic metres and coniferous sawnwood production at more than 3.9 million cubic metres. The state distribution of output is consistent with the log input estimates described above. Australian broadleaved sawnwood production declined over the December and March quarters, principally because of lower output from New South Wales and Tasmania. Nevertheless, there was an increase in broadleaved output in most states in the June 2007 quarter. All states recorded a reduction in coniferous sawnwood output between the September 2007 and December 2007 quarters. While national coniferous output increased in the March 2007 quarter, which was led principally by sawmills in New South Wales. There was a rise in coniferous sawnwood output across all states in the June quarter. Figure C presents the sawnwood production volumes by type produced by Australian sawmills in 2006-07. The “other” forest product category includes products such as pallets, fencing and wooden stakes. The data indicates that almost one-third of the volume of broadleaved sawnwood output from Australian sawmills was produced as green structural sawnwood. There was also a large proportion of dry appearance grade sawnwood produced. This was principally the case in New South Wales and Queensland, while in Victoria a large share of broadleaved sawlogs was used to produce dry structural sawnwood. In total, almost 40 per cent of broadleaved sawnwood was produced as dried product. In contrast, more than half of all coniferous sawnwood output was produced as dry structural timber. This was consistent across all states except Queensland, where a significant share of production was also for green structural and dry appearance sawnwood. This reflects the importance of cypress pine in Queensland, of which around 44 per cent is produced as green structural and 31 per cent is produced as dry appearance sawnwood. In total, more than three-quarters of coniferous sawnwood was produced as dried product. There are also significant differences in the structure of Australia’s sawnwood industry in each state (table d). The broadleaved sawmilling industry is characterised by a large number of relatively small mills in New South Wales and Queensland, which also have generally higher recovery rates than in states with larger average mill size. Other factors contributing to differences in relative recovery rates include differences in the species and the size of native broadleaved logs in each state, which can affect the sawing technology employed by each mill and hence the potential recovery rates achievable. The recovery rates presented here represent the volume of sawnwood produced from an equivalent volume of sawlog. No estimates have been made of the use of the residual timber (eg sawdust, woodchips), although these ‘waste products’ may be critical to some sawmills as a source of energy or additional revenue. The coniferous industry is more uniform across states, although including cypress pine sawmills in New South Wales and Queensland contributes to lower average mill size. Compared with other states, both average mill size and sawnwood recovery rates are relatively low in Tasmania. |
| Comparing results with historical estimates of sawnwood production |
| As discussed, there are some concerns regarding the comparability of the sawmill survey results with other available datasets for 2006-07. In addition, there is a need to assess the comparability of the 2006-07 sawnwood production estimates with historical estimates of sawnwood production in Australia. The survey estimates of sawnwood production presented here provide the most reliable and consistent estimates currently available for Australian sawnwood production in 2006-07. However, because of the change in estimation methodology, it is not possible to derive trends in these estimates and the historical data. ABARE is examining ways to derive a new set of estimates for the historical data. |
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 |
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| Broadleaved | |||||||||
|
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| Log intake (m3/yr) | New South Wales a |
Victoria |
Queensland |
South Australia |
Western Australia |
Tasmania |
Australia |
||
|
|||||||||
| Less than 3000 | 123 |
33 |
124 |
4 |
11 |
45 |
340 |
||
| 3 000 to less than 15 000 | 39 |
16 |
27 |
0 |
6 |
13 |
101 |
||
| 15 000 to less than 45 000 | 19 |
16 |
7 |
0 |
1 |
12 |
55 |
||
| 45 000 to less than 75 000 | 2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
||
| 75 000 to less than 100 000 | 1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
||
| More than 100 000 | 0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
||
|
|||||||||
| Total | 184 |
67 |
158 |
4 |
21 |
71 |
505 |
||
|
|||||||||
| Coniferous b | |||||||||
|
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| Log intake (m3/yr) | New South Wales a |
Victoria |
Queensland |
South Australia |
Western Australia |
Tasmania |
Australia |
||
|
|||||||||
| Less than 3 000 | 1 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
9 |
||
| 3 000 to less than 15 000 | 9 |
2 |
26 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
42 |
||
| 15 000 to less than 45 000 | 7 |
0 |
11 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
22 |
||
| 45 000 to less than 75 000 | 4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
||
| 75 000 to less than 100 000 | 1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
||
| More than 100 000 | 3 |
8 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
22 |
||
|
|||||||||
| Total | 26 |
11 |
46 |
13 |
3 |
6 |
105 |
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|
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| a Including ACT. b Including cypress pine. Source: ABARE datasets. |
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broadleaved |
coniferous b |
total |
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|
||||||||||||||||||||
| state | private |
public |
total |
private |
public |
total |
private |
public |
total |
|||||||||||
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| New South | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Wales a | 318 |
(17) |
798 |
(11) |
1 116 |
(7) |
642 |
(26) |
1 853 |
(7) |
2 495 |
(1) |
960 |
(18) |
2 651 |
(6) |
3 611 |
(2) |
||
| Victoria | 148 |
(26) |
577 |
(16) |
724 |
(11) |
1 441 |
(8) |
178 |
(33) |
1 619 |
(6) |
1 589 |
(8) |
755 |
(14) |
2 343 |
(5) |
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| Queensland | 116 |
(18) |
281 |
(11) |
397 |
(5) |
95 |
(17) |
1 632 |
(1) |
1 727 |
(1) |
211 |
(12) |
1 913 |
(2) |
2 124 |
(1) |
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| South Australia | 0 |
(na) |
0 |
(na) |
0 |
(na ) |
421 |
(53) |
1 349 |
(26) |
1 770 |
(21) |
421 |
(53) |
1 349 |
(26) |
1 770 |
(21) |
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| Western Australia |
38 |
(47) |
204 |
(5) |
243 |
(6) |
63 |
(in) |
415 |
(in) |
478 |
(in) |
101 |
(18) |
619 |
(1) |
721 |
(2) |
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| Tasmania | 87 |
(23) |
441 |
(5) |
528 |
(4) |
115 |
(35) |
332 |
(3) |
447 |
(9) |
202 |
(22) |
773 |
(3) |
975 |
(4) |
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|
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| Australia | 707 |
(10) |
2301 |
(6) |
3008 |
(4) |
2777 |
(11) |
5759 |
(6) |
8536 |
(4) |
3 484 |
(9) |
8 060 |
(5) |
11 544 |
(3) |
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| a Including ACT. b Including cypress pine. Note: Private and public split based on respondent’s estimates. The figures in parenthesis are relative standard errors expressed as a percentage of the estimate. |
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broadleaved |
coniferous |
|||||||
|
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survey |
table 6 b |
difference |
survey |
table 6 b |
difference |
|||
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
‘000 m3 |
|||
|
||||||||
| New South Wales a | 1 116 |
1 179 |
-63 |
2 495 |
2 122 |
373 |
||
| Victoria | 724 |
607 |
117 |
1 619 |
2 309 |
–690 |
||
| Queensland | 397 |
362 |
35 |
1 727 |
1 736 |
–9 |
||
| South Australia | 0 |
0 |
0 |
1 770 |
1 334 |
436 |
||
| Western Australia | 243 |
242 |
1 |
478 |
566 |
–88 |
||
| Tasmania | 528 |
422 |
106 |
447 |
488 |
–41 |
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|
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| Australia | 3008 |
2 813 |
195 |
8536 |
8 554 |
–18 |
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| a Including ACT. b Not directly comparable with data contained in table 6, as the data presented here exclude veneer logs and exported sawlogs. | ||||||||
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average |
recovery |
average |
total |
share of |
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| Broadleaved | no. mills |
log intake |
rate |
output |
output |
national output |
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|
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m3/mill |
% |
m3/mill |
‘000 m3 |
% |
||||
|
||||||||
| New South Wales a | 184 |
6 065 |
40.00% |
2 428 |
446.8 |
39.40% |
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| Victoria | 67 |
10 806 |
36.80% |
3 984 |
266.9 |
23.50% |
||
| Queensland | 158 |
2 513 |
40.80% |
1 025 |
161.9 |
14.30% |
||
| South Australia | 4 |
0 |
42.00% |
0 |
0 |
0.00% |
||
| Western Australia | 21 |
11 571 |
33.20% |
3 838 |
80.6 |
7.10% |
||
| Tasmania | 71 |
7 437 |
32.50% |
2 518 |
178.8 |
15.80% |
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|
||||||||
| Australia | 505 |
5 956 |
37.50% |
2 248 |
1 135.0 |
100.00% |
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|
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average |
recovery |
average |
total |
share of |
||||
| Coniferous b | no. mills |
log intake |
rate |
output |
output |
national output |
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|
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m3/mill |
% |
m3/mill |
‘000 m3 |
% |
||||
|
||||||||
| New South Wales a | 26 |
95 962 |
47.10% |
45 319 |
1 178.3 |
30.00% |
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| Victoria | 11 |
147 182 |
46.60% |
68 609 |
754.7 |
19.20% |
||
| Queensland | 46 |
37 543 |
44.30% |
16 611 |
764.1 |
19.50% |
||
| South Australia | 13 |
136 154 |
47.10% |
64 277 |
835.6 |
21.30% |
||
| Western Australia | 3 |
159 333 |
45.30% |
72 200 |
216.6 |
5.50% |
||
| Tasmania | 6 |
74 500 |
40.10% |
29 850 |
179.1 |
4.60% |
||
|
||||||||
| Australia | 105 |
81 295 |
46.00% |
37 413 |
3 928.4 |
100.00% |
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| a Categories above 45 000 cubic metres aggregated to protect confidentiality of sawmills. b Including cypress pine. | ||||||||