The Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association (WPMA) met central and local government officials and opposition politicians in Whangarei then called for forests to be classed as a national strategic asset with the same status as land, fisheries and minerals.
Regulations were needed to stop trees as young as 17 or 18 years being felled and exported when traders paid big money to landowners to feed the voracious Chinese appetite.
Mark Hansen, managing director of local processor Rosvall Sawmill, said the harvesting rate of 4.6 million cubic metres a year would be cut in half in 10 years and would not recover for 10 or 15 years.
That was quite predictable from the forest estate profile and the age of trees plus the lack of replanting in recent years.
Climate change, the Kyoto protocol and carbon pricing along with Government indecision had created uncertainty and stopped replanting, which was the opposite of what was intended, he said.
Local manufacturers were using about 2m cubic metres a year, mainly to produce some of the best softwood structural timber in New Zealand but were getting only just enough logs to meet demand.
Hansen estimated $500m had been spent on processing facilities since 1996, much of which would be at risk if wood supplies could not be guaranteed.
Forest industries employed more than 2500 people in Northland and future log supply was the number one issue for WPMA members, chairman Brian Stanley said.
“Thirty years after NZ took the radical step to privatise the industry we are now at the end of one growing rotation of our trees.
“We need to know where this privatisation experiment has landed us.
“We are calling for an urgent review of the industry – this joint Government-industry rotation review needs to start in Northland and extend nationwide.”
Local processors got plenty of encouragement from NZ First leader and Northland MP Winston Peters who said short-term, non-interventionist thinking was evident in the mismanagement of the forestry sector.
“There is no strategic management of one of our greatest assets.
“How mad is our system of exporting logs, having them processed overseas and then buying back the products.”
Winston Peters
NZ First
“Present policies treat trees like annual crops of potatoes and we are the world’s largest exporter of softwood logs, 50% of total forestry exports.
“China itself, Canada and Chile all have national forest policies that restrict exports in raw form so that local manufacturers have viable businesses.
“Forest owners must be encouraged by sound policies to replant, in order to protect the local processing industry and secure employment.
“Auckland house builders must be encouraged to buy NZ timber instead of defective cement, steel and plumbing products from overseas.
“How mad is our system of exporting logs, having them processed overseas and then buying back the products.
“A vibrant forestry industry is vital to Northland and we have the raw resources to convert into wealth,” Peters said.
