forms woodchip export

TIMBERCORP LIMITED 2002-10-09 ASX-SIGNAL-G

HOMEX - Melbourne

+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Timbercorp Limited is pleased to announce that it has formed an
export woodchip marketing company together with another major
eucalypt plantation developer and manager, Integrated Tree Cropping
Limited (ITC).

The company, Plantation Pulpwood Exports Pty Ltd (PPE), will market
woodchips from the Eucalyptus globulus and E grandis plantations
managed by the two companies, at present totalling 167,000 hectares.
The combined estate represents Australia's largest plantation
hardwood resource and is a major resource an the global market.

PPE will provide significant economies of scale in servicing
international markets as demand continues to grow strongly for
plantation-sourced eucalypt woodchips. It will also assist in
rationalising the export marketing of wood from the Australian
hardwood plantation industry by combining the resource of two major
plantation managers.

An ABARE report in August 2002 forecast Australian export woodchip
sales to rise 20 per cent by 2010 principally from hardwood
plantations grown by companies like Timbercorp and ITC.

Pulp and paper manufacturers, principally in Japan and China, are
keenly seeking Eglobulus chips for their fibre yield, quality and
environmental advantages over fibre sourced from natural forests.

PPE is at an advanced stage in negotiations with Japanese pulp and
paper manufacturers to enter contracts for wood from Timbercorp and
ITC plantations in Western Australia.

Timbercorp and ITC are also in an advanced stage of negotiation to
lease a site at the port of Albany, WA, for the establishment of
stockpiling and loading facilities. The companies aim to establish an
independent woodchip export facility at Albany in the coming year.

Timbercorp has already commenced construction of stockpiling and
loading facilities at a site it leases at the port of Bunbury, WA.
This will be operational next month, receiving woodchip currently
being harvested and processed using the company's new in-field
chipping system in the south west of WA.

Timbercorp manages 74,000 hectares of eucalypt plantations in WA and
the Green Triangle area of south-western Victoria and south-eastern
South Australia. ITC has under management its own plantations plus
those of Australian Plantation Timber Limited in WA, the Green
Triangle and Queensland.

These plantations combined are expected to yield more than 40 million
tonnes of woodchips with an export value of $3.5 billion over the
next decade.

For further information, contact:

Robert Hance, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER on 03 8615 1200
John Vaughan, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR on 03 8615 1200

I hold GTP & TIM