$14million plantation contract opens up new markets for WA

17/3/03
The WA Forest Products Commission has signed a $14million contract for up to 400,000 cubic metres of plantation timber with Australia's largest log exporter.
Forestry Minister Kim Chance said the two-year contract between the FPC and Pentarch Forest Products Pty Ltd was for timber surplus to local requirements.
The new contract would also open up new markets for Western Australian private growers and investors.
"The contract provides an immediate market for surplus harvest thinnings and oversized industrial wood unsuitable for local milling operations," Mr Chance said.
Thinnings are an essential forestry practice to enable the remaining trees to produce good quality sawlogs.
About 100,000 tonnes of Forest Products Commission plantation logs will be shipped annually from Bunbury and Albany ports to Indonesia and South East Asia.
Mr Chance said private plantation growers would also provide additional volumes which would be a boon for growers who had recently had difficulty accessing local markets.
"This is an important contract, adding diversity to the market as we enter a period of expansion of integrating tree crops on farms to address pressing environmental issues such as salinity and erosion," he said.
"In the long term, beside the growing export market, we are also focussing on increasing employment and regional development as new plantations establish to an age, size and quantity where they can supply new local processing centres."
Minister's office: 9213 6700