ZWU,I think if they offered me shares in Gunns now I would agree it would be a better a deal,Gunns stink like an enviromental---- and the management?----groan
Comments on GNS forum are like this forum,no confidence in any thing these poor manangers and now the allegations that Gunns is corrrupt,which is to be tested in the courts by Peter Cundall
Go Pete,and that's your bloomin lot ---for the moment
Threat to jobs as woodchips stockpile ANDREW DARBY February 5, 2010 Ads by Google Learn to Trade CFDs 5 Easy Steps to CFD Trading.Free Practice Account Included. GFT
www.GFT.com.au
WOODCHIP stockpiles are mounting unsold on Tasmanian wharves as Japanese paper-making customers increasingly resist chips from native forests.
The biggest exporter, Gunns Limited, has imposed rolling closures at woodchip plants, and logging contractors and forest workers who supply them are idle in a growing crisis for the forest industry.
The strong dollar and the global financial crisis are partly behind the slowdown in sales, according to Gunns chief executive Greg L'Estrange. But he said green certification for the chips was also an issue of concern.
Perceptions had grown that hardwood chips came from native forests that were not well-managed, Mr L'Estrange said. Opponents say a shift in demand is under way that could hasten an end to the long conflict over native forests on the island state, where about 2000 hectares of old growth is logged annually, according to Forestry Tasmania figures.
''Most of the customers are demanding Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood right through the supply chain,'' said Paul Oosting of the Wilderness Society. FSC certification requires that timber production shift to existing plantations, and not come from high-conservation-value forests.
Resources Minister David Llewellyn recently joined Gunns chairman John Gay on a trip to allay the concerns of six Japanese woodchip customers.
Mr Llewellyn said on his return that he wanted to reassure the companies that Tasmania's practices were among the world's best.
Meanwhile Gunns has confirmed that its Longreach woodchip mill will close for five weeks.
GTP Price at posting:
12.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
