| 51 FORESTRY Tasman Pine Forests To contact us, Phone 03 544 8360 or Email info@sdtrans.co.nz Proudly supporting Tasman Pine Forests Ltd Earthmoving | Civil Construction Dam Construction | Drainage Regional Roadside Maintenance Agricultural lime | Forestry Protecting properties from forest to fenceline. Surveillance Cameras • Custom Forestry Gates • Pest Control Services • Permit Systems • Hunting Ballot Booking Systems • Patrolling • Static Guarding • Vehicle Escorts www.randmsecurity.com 027 530 6230 admin@remsec.co.nz T T Kim Newth Potential seen in local wood processing Tasman Pine Forests sustainably harvests timber to meet domestic and international demand. Tasman Pine Forests Ltd (TPFL) sustainably manages an extensive forestry estate in Tasman, Nelson and Marlborough, spanning 36,000 hectares of exotic plantation forests. As well as generating economic and social benefits, TPFL manages the estate as a renewable and sustainable resource. Laat year, TPFL was presented with a forestry company award at the inaugural Growing Native Forests Champions Awards, recognising achievements in restoring native forests, controlling wilding pines and protecting native species. “It was a real honour, and since then we have also received an environmental award from our parent company, Sumitomo,” says TPFL executive director, Steve Chandler. “That’s quite an honour, too, as we only make up less than 1% of Sumitomo’s business as an international forestry company. “We’re doing a lot of work in protecting our high conservation value areas, including animal and weed pest control. We have native falcons, native snails and lizards in our forest that we protect and we’re the only plantation forest to have breeding kea. “We’ve also had recognition for how we responsibly manage our harvest waste. We have had very few issues with mobilisation of logging slash, despite the massive floods that have been through the district up here.” Tasman Pine Forests sustainably harvests timber to meet domestic and international demand. Steve sees a lot of potential for more domestic processing of export logs into value-added wood products, but unfortunately this will not happen overnight. “In fact, processing capacity in the region has gone backwards,” he says. “We lost the Carter Holt Harvey mill last year, which was the biggest in the South Island.” Carter Holt Harvey confirmed the Eves Valley sawmill closure last September. While Steve sees positive potential in the New Zealand-India Free Trade Agreement, it is not currently adding any value to wood in New Zealand either. “What we still really need is more investment in wood processing, and a political and economic climate that will help to achieve that; we’re still a long way from seeing that in New Zealand.” One of the downstream impacts of the Eves Valley mill closing is that TPFL is now sending more logs directly to the wharf for export because of limited domestic processing capacity, with China and India being the two main export markets. “Of course, there’s a big issue with the cost of shipping, too, with the fuel crisis going on. China is steady at the moment, and we’re seeing a little bit of improvement in demand from India. We’re also looking at exploring some niche opportunities in the South East Asian markets.” Within New Zealand, TPFL continues to supply logs to its sister company, Nelson Pine Industries, which makes Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) and Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL). As well, local sawmill South Pine buys higher-grade saw logs from TPFL for processing. Goldpine is another key domestic customer. Taman Pine Forests employs 20 permanent staff, has a contract workforce of over 120, and supports the rescue helicopter, local sports teams and various worthy projects.
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