The NZ forestry industry is currently in slump as producers struggle with freight rates that have more than doubled in the last 12 months and a steep rise in the value of the NZ dollar. The total value of exports for the financial year ended 30 June 2004 fell eight per cent to NZ$3226 mill. Hardest hit were log and pole exports, falling 25.2 per cent to 6.9 mill m3, and exports to the US which dropped 27 per cent in total, including a 31.2 per cent fall in with lucrative sawn timber volumes.
While the log market is currently in the doldrums, the New Zealand Forest Industries Council is optimistic that NZ radiata pine will be approved for building uses in China by June next year. Normally amending Chinese building codes would be expected to take years but the Chinese and NZ governments are in negotiations over a free trade agreement (China’s first with an OECD country) and China has agreed to fast-track the necessary changes....
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This complete item is approximately 2500 words in length, and appeared in the September 2004 issue of WorldCargo News, on page 44.
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