history of the timber industry

have been reading a little regarding history of plantations in australia ,the major shift was in the 60,s under the menzies govt when large tracts of land,mostly commonwealth land was cleared for pine,strangely i remember this the enormous scars on the landscape and the subsequent planting of pine,many marginal farming areas gave way to pine plantations this continued into the 1980,s creating enormous supplies of softwood for every conceivable purpose and we are utilising that man made resource today.

in the 1990S tax minimisation schemes established large areas of private plantations these existing plantation are believed
to be capable of servicing all of australias domestic and export hardwood needs completely displacing native woodchip.

the world timber industry has been in a state of extreme fluctuation for sometime probably due to the worldwide expansion into plantation timber,it seems in percentage throughout the world in percentage terms very little of legal native logging is exported and we are talking single digit.

my observations , within australia we are moving from colonial/government style industry participation toward privatisation, which means public companys and direct investors,furthermore given the relatively long lead times to reach a stage of mature harvesting rotation the transition will see a gradual reduction in native harvesting as plantation harvesting supplants supply,undoubtedly this transition is a matter of contractual agreement between state/federal and existing industry participants aka: gunns,fea etc.and i believe the cycle of transition is close to finality

so while some are decrying the activities of gunns as destructive i see the policy shift by govt to private enterprise is well underway,and some of the more recent posts assuming there accuracy show that gns have sold the product of woodlot to international investors while retaining ownersip of the land and buying back the mature product for processing,clearly govt enterprise is now overshadowed by commercial enterprise.

the little i have read is so impressive in its depth i will be seeking material for inclusion in my library.

my thanks to Judith Ajani---THE FOREST WARS

for those posters who continually distort featured articles it might be good to look at the objectives of the timber industry through each decade starting from the 1900s,as well as utilisation rates .

the older 60s style homes or commission homes as many of us refer to them are primarily constructed of hardwood and when you inspect the frames and roof constuction,flooring construction etc you immediately notice the difference in the amount of timber used as opposed to a modern softwood framed home.[ by the way this style of home in the 50s and 60s was dictated by banking and government regulation with regard to financing and total cost which were within defined limits,so larger elaborate homes were financed directly by the owners throughout australia ,in short these people were the wealthy]

in australia today we have a very efficient recycling industry for paper and i would suggest this is a practice utilised throughout the developed world.

anyway reading this history it seems clear to me that gunns
will move away from clearfelling to resource manager with a strong balance sheet emphasis on processing for markets as opposed to growing and harvesting.

it is not surprising given the history of the timber industry and government policy that it is controversial,however governments of the day have acted in the best interest of the australian people given the thinking of the day when policys were first enacted.

so if there are any surprise moves by gunns in selling the resource but retaining land ownership that would only serve to confirm my theory and strengthen their balance sheet as they move from direct primary producer to end processor for wood product.

as much as people might decry the relative market share held by gns in this area it could also serve to create greater security for producers by hopefully stabilising product returns as they specify production needs,this is the type of end to end management that is required to maintain a beneficial industry for all concerned.

these are just my thoughts having read a variety of information from different sources.

of course you should do your own research and i extend my thanks to those whom i have no present day agreement with
in terms of their evolutionary views on the timber industry,it is definitely not the same industry it was 20 or 30 years ago,however you would need to open your eyes and look hard at the future before you can see the reality that the past is fading away ,moving rapidly now from exploiter to product manager.

these are the reasons i have chosen to buy gns,i believe the future is not the past,the industry is still vital to our economy and the needs of ordinary people,lastly australia still imports large quantities of timber product
such is the nature of a competitive world stage,china imports up to 35% of some of ots wood product needs so go gns