NZ forestry production and trade data released

NZ forestry production and trade data for the March 2010 quarter is now available on the web. Details can be found at address below*. Key points - compared with the same quarter of the previous year (March 2009) are;
- Total roundwood volume harvested this quarter was an estimated 5.5 million cubic metres, the largest ever March quarter harvest volume.

- Export log volumes increased to all major trading partners and in total rose 48.1 percent to 2.3 million cubic metres. High demand from China has continued this quarter and we have also seen significant increases in export log prices. Export log earnings for the March 2010 quarter were NZ$298 million, an increase of 70.8 percent.

- Total production volumes for all forestry sectors increased this quarter. Sawn timber volumes were up 21.5 percent, panel volumes up 11.2 percent, pulp volumes up 0.4 percent and paper and paperboard volumes increased 7.7 percent.

- However, for most products, despite increased volumes, export earnings were down this quarter due to a comparatively strong NZ dollar against the US dollar.

- For the year ended March 2010, the harvest volume increased 16.2 percent to an estimated 22.2 million cubic metres - the largest ever March year harvest from New Zealand forests and only 5.7 percent below the largest volume recorded in the December 2002 year.

- Export log volumes to China this March year were more than double those recorded for the March 2009 year (up 2.8 million cubic metres to 5.4 million cubic metres) and made up 56.0 percent of the total log export volume.

- China’s total log import volume for the March 2010 year was approximately 30 million cubic metres. New Zealand was the second largest foreign source of log imports, behind Russia with approximately 15 million cubic metres.

*http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/publications/statistics/forestry/forestry-production-and-exports/