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| Overview |
| Highlights in this issue |
 Australia’s plantation sector continues to expand, with a further 86 600 hectares established in 2006-07 despite increasing difficulties associated with land availability in many regions. Australia’s plantation estate increased to 1.9 million hectares in 2006-07. Continuing the trend of recent years, the volume of hardwood logs harvested from plantations in Australia increased significantly in 2006-07, by 6.9 per cent to 4.0 million cubic metres. In contrast, the volume of logs harvested from native forests continued to decline, to 8.5 million cubic metres in 2006-07. Imports of forest products increased by 6.3 per cent in 2006-07 to $4.3 billion, while exports rose by 10 per cent to $2.4 billion. Import growth was led by wood-based panels and paper and paperboard products, while hardwood, woodchips and sawnwood products contributed most to the growth in exports. Sawnwood imports increased slightly in the September and December quarters of 2007, reversing a decline in sawnwood imports of 28 per cent between 2004-05 and 2006-07. This was largely the result of a resumption of import growth of New Zealand softwood sawnwood, which had also been declining steadily for several years. Woodchip exports continued to grow strongly, increasing by 6 per cent in volume between the December 2006 quarter and the December 2007 quarter. Most of this growth occurred in 2007 between the June and December quarters. Strong prices resulted in the value of woodchip exports increasing by 11 per cent. Victorian plantations contributed to most of the woodchip growth, while there was a strong proportional rise in exports from Queensland and a slight decline in both the volume and value from Western Australia. Japan continues to be the principal destination for Australia’s woodchips, accounting for 91 per cent of the export volume. |
| Forest resource |
| Estimates of Australia’s native forest area have been significantly revised and updated data provided in tables 2 and 3 of this report. These changes are based on improved estimates of Australia’s forest cover given the increasing availability of high-resolution, remote sensing data. This largely explains the change in estimated total forest area from 164 million hectares in 2003 to 149 million hectares in 2007, with little of the change because of real forest loss. The changes to these estimates are described fully in Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2008. Australia’s plantation area increased by 4.7 per cent to 1.9 million hectares in 2007, consisting of 1.0 million hectares of coniferous and 0.9 million hectares of broadleaved plantations (figure a). The area of broadleaved plantations increased by 9.4 per cent in 2007, with most of the 76 000 hectare increase in Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. In contrast, the area of coniferous plantations increased by around 1 per cent over the same period. Most of this development occurred in New South Wales, where the area of coniferous plantations increased by 5 700 hectares. The volume of logs harvested from Australia’s forests increased by 1.3 per cent in 2006-07 to 27.1 million cubic metres. Production from both broadleaved and coniferous plantations increased. Most of the production growth was attributable to hardwood for pulping from the short rotation broadleaved plantations (figure a). Many broadleaved plantations established in the past ten years are now reaching harvestable age and production from these forests is expected to remain strong. The volume of logs harvested from native forests has declined since 2000-01, and fell by 1.2 per cent in 2006-07. In 2006-07 the total value of log production from Australia’s forests increased by 1 per cent to $1.7 billion, despite a fall in the volume of native forest logs harvested. This was a result of both the larger volume harvested and higher prices for some logs, particularly hardwood and softwood plantation logs for milling and pulping. |
| Production and consumption |
| Following ABARE’s 2007 sawmill survey it is estimated that total hardwood sawnwood production was 1.13 million cubic metres in 2006-07, and softwood sawnwood production was 3.93 million cubic metres. New South Wales and Victoria accounted for the majority of hardwood sawnwood production, while New South Wales and South Australia accounted for the majority of the softwood. Changes to the method of estimation mean that sawnwood production data estimated from ABARE’s survey are currently not comparable with historical estimates. As a result, trends in Australia’s sawnwood consumption are currently not available. Domestic demand for Australia’s forest products has been weak for several years, with housing activity declining since 2003-04 and annual GDP growth remaining around 3.0 per cent. However, housing commencements in the December quarter 2007 were 3.6 per cent above commencements in December quarter 2006 and total dwelling commencements were up by 2.5 per cent for the same period, indicating a rise in the demand for sawnwood and wood-based panel products in 2007. Wood-based panel production in the December quarter 2007 was 5 per cent higher than the same period in 2006. Medium density fibreboard (MDF) production has recovered since closure of the Carter Holt Harvey mill in Bell Bay, Tasmania in July 2006, and was 7 per cent higher in the December quarter 2007 than in the same period in 2006. Apparent consumption of wood-based panels in Australia increased by 5 per cent over the same period, mainly as a result of a large increase in MDF consumption. The volume of paper and paperboard production declined by 0.9 per cent in 2006-07. The national volume of recovered paper, which measures the volume of used paper collected, for use in paper and paperboard production exceeded 3 million tonnes in 2006-07 for the second year, driven by the increased demand for recovered paper for export to China. |
| Trade |
| Imports of forest products increased by 6.3 per cent in 2006-07 to $4.3 billion. This was mainly because of a 20 per cent rise in the value of wood-based panel imports and continuing strong domestic demand for paper and paperboard imports. In the September and December quarters of 2007, this trend continued as total imports increased by 5 per cent compared with the same six month period in 2006. Imports of packaging and industrial paper and wood panels increased significantly. The volume of sawnwood imports decreased by 9.0 per cent in 2006-07, but higher import prices reduced the decline in the value of imports to 0.2 per cent. However, the volume of sawnwood imports jumped sharply in the September and December quarters 2007, and in the latter period was 22 per cent higher than a year earlier. December quarters 2007 came from New Zealand, which represents a significant reversal of the trend of recent years. While New Zealand is the largest supplier of sawnwood to Australia, supplying 45 per cent of our total sawnwood imports in 2006-07, imports from New Zealand have fallen by more than 30 per cent since 2004-05. Exports of forest products rose by 10 per cent to $2.4 billion in 2006-07. This was largely because of sustained growth in plantation hardwood woodchip exports, which drove a 13 per cent increase in the value of total woodchip exports, and another year of strong growth in sawnwood exports (figure b). Woodchip exports remained strong in the September and December 2007 quarters, growing by 6 per cent in volume and 11 per cent in value over the year to December 2007. Most of this growth was in coniferous woodchip exports, which increased by 28 per cent in value in the year to December 2007 as a result of an increase in shipments from Tasmania. Total broadleaved woodchip exports, including both native and plantation, rose by 3 per cent in value. With the commencement of production at the Ta Ann export veneer mill in Tasmania, veneer exports jumped to 9500 cubic metres in the December quarter 2007. Veneer production from this mill is mainly being exported to Malaysia for processing into plywood. The logs are sourced from native forest pulpwood grades that would previously have been processed into woodchips for export. While the value of paper and paperboard exports fell in the September and December quarters, there was a 45 per cent increase in the value of recovered paper exports compared with the same period in 2006. This was a result both of a higher volume of exports (which increased by 24 per cent) and a significantly higher world price for recovered paper. |
| Methodology |
| The statistics reported in this publication are derived from a variety of sources. A list of the data sources and assumptions is provided in the footnotes to each table. In general, all data in the publication relating to imports and exports have been compiled from information published monthly by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in International Trade, electronic data service (cat. no. 5464.0), which is supplemented with data sourced from industry organisations when available. Median monthly trade unit values have been used from January 2002 wherever the monthly unit value has fallen below the median value by 25 per cent. Production data are sourced from the various state forest services and industry organisations, with some estimates derived from ABARE datasets. Care should be taken when using Australian export statistics by commodity and destination owing to data quality issues associated with volumes and unit values in disaggregated data. All data are subject to revision. A number of changes have been made to the presentation and content of recent editions of Australian Forest and Wood Products Statistics (AFWPS), based on feedback received from users of the publication and the associated datasets. ABARE is interested in the ongoing development of AFWPS to ensure data continue to be relevant and useful to as many users as possible. If you have any comments regarding the data or issues presented in this publication, please contact Kevin Burns on (02) 6272 2253 or email kevin.burns@abare.gov.au |
| Sawnwood production estimates |
| In 2007 ABARE undertook a national survey of sawmills. The results of this survey are included in this edition of AFWPS. A summary of the survey, including the methodology, results and areas for further research, is provided below. |
| Log removals from Australia’s forests |
| Each year ABARE collects log removal and price data from a range of forest growers and major log purchasers as part of the survey of gross value of log production. These sources include crown native and plantation forest data from state forest agencies and data from major plantation companies. However, with the exception of Tasmania, there are no state based central collection points for private native forest data. Consequently, estimates of removals from this resource have relied on partial surveys of major processors that are known to purchase from private forest managers and general estimates from forest industry experts. This edition of the AFWPS contains some revisions to historical estimates of forest harvest volumes, based on ongoing data checking and discussions with some state forest agencies. In addition, removals of firewood for industrial and domestic purposes are not included in total removals because of inconsistencies in the definition and reporting of this log category across states. |
| National forest and plantation inventories |
| Information on forest areas by forest type and tenure class and on plantation areas and plantings were provided by the National Forest Inventory and National Plantation Inventory. Further information about forest and plantation data can be obtained by contacting: The Project Manager National Forest Inventory Bureau of Rural Sciences GPO Box 858 Canberra ACT 2601 fax: +61 02 6272 3882 email: nfi.info@brs.gov.au internet: www.brs.gov.au/nfi |
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