Wood Processing
New Zealand Forest Industry as at 2000
New Zealand has a well-established forestry industry that can be divided into a log production and a wood processing sectors. These sectors are almost entirely dependent on radiata pine wood from New Zealand's planted production forests.
Log Production and Woodflow
The volume of roundwood harvested from New Zealand's forests has increased significantly over the past 45 years. The increase over the last eight years has been particularly substantial, from 10 to 17 million cubic metres. New planting rates suggest that the supply of logs will increase dramatically, growing from 16.4 million cubic metres in 1998 to almost 30 million cubic metres by 2010.
About one-third of the national harvest is exported as logs, one-third is supplied to sawmills and plywood mills, with the remaining third supplying the pulp, paper and reconstituted panel industries.
The majority of New Zealand's planted production forests are concentrated in the central North Island region. Other major forest growing areas include Northland, East Coast and Hawkes Bay, Nelson and Marlborough, and Otago and Southland. Logs are mainly harvested by clearfelling and through selective thinning operations.
Wood Processing Industries
New Zealand's wood processing industry comprises a mix of four pulp and paper companies, five panelboard companies, more than 400 sawmillers and 80 remanufacturers. It currently consumes around 11 million cubic metres of wood annually, with the balance of the harvest being exported as logs.
The major wood processors, who are also New Zealand's major forest owners, have their processing plants close to or within their forests. The wood processing industry is concentrated in the Central North Island, where currently most mature forest plantations are located.
By 2010 there will be another 19 million cubic metres of wood available for industry to further process, or export in log form. If the surplus is processed, a substantial investment of up to $6.5 billion would need to be invested in new wood processing facilities. This could equate to an additional 134 medium-sized sawmills, 87 remanufacturing plants and either 20 panelboard mills or six pulp and paper plants added to our existing capacity.
Since 1990 wood processors have publicly announced their intention to invest more than $2 billion in upgrading existing, and creating new, wood processing facilities. The growth in announced investment over the next couple of years is encouraging.
Sawmilling
Total annual sawn timber production to June 1998 was 3.19 million cubic metres with over 430 sawmills contributing to this total. Over 75 percent of this volume was produced from 35 production sites and 25 companies. A vast majority of mills produced less than 20 000 cubic metres. Sawmill ownership falls into three broad groups:
- large, vertically integrated producers supplying mainly commodity and export markets
- small to medium sized privately owned businesses, often providing niche market products
- foreign-owned, more recent sawmills focussing on a narrow range of products and markets
Most sawmills produce primarily structural lumber products. With an increasing volume of high quality pruned logs available, a trend towards appearance grade products has been noted.
Solidwood Remanufacturing
A relatively young industry in New Zealand adding further value to sawn lumber through a number of processes, to produce goods such as mouldings, components and laminated products. A survey in 1995 estimated the contribution to the New Zealand economy at NZ$255 million on a production volume of over 300,000 cubic metres. The industry is small by world standards with a dozen large players and less than hundred small-to-medium-sized companies. But it is well regarded for its innovation and export market development focus.
Composite Panels Manufacture
The Panels sector can be segregated into two distinct processes:
- veneer, plywood and to a lesser degree LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber) produced from high quality veneer logs
- reconstituted panel products such as particleboard, medium density fibreboard (MDF), and triboard (a strandboard core wedged between two MDF outside layers)
Total annual production to June 1998 included:
- 267,000 cubic metres of veneer
- 177,000 cubic metres of plywood and LVL
- 172,000 cubic metres of particle board (triboard included)
- 605,000 cubic metres of fibreboard (hardboard included)
The growth of the panel industry has been variable. While veneer and plywood productions have trebled over the past ten years, reconstituted boards grew somewhat slower (20 to 30 percent). Five multinational companies dominate the industry manufacturing from nine large sites. A similar number of small companies interspersed throughout New Zealand manufacture specialty veneer, plywood and LVL products.
Pulp and Paper Manufacture
The pulp and paper industry comprises four main corporations operating eight mills, most of which located in or adjacent to the Central North Island region. For the year ending June 1998 the four companies produced about 1.4 million tonnes of wood pulp and 849 000 tonnes of paper and paperboard. The product range of each company differs from the goods made by the other three. Pulp and paper production has grown substantially over the past 20 years in an effort to stay globally competitive. However, no greenfield investments have taken place since 1978.
Contact for Enquiries
Senior Analyst
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 1340
Rotorua
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 7 921 3403
Fax: +64 7 921 3402
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