The Chinese market had a strong finish to 2011, with some 60% of NZ’s log exports heading in to this market over the year. Reduced Chinese inventory levels have allowed for a positive start to 2012, but as is normal for the period preceding and during Chinese New Year; the market has now slowed down and is expected to remain this way until late February.

Generally the March/April period shows a surge in demand, but with Chinese log inventories now increasing and the housing market cooling, 2012 could well see more of the supply/demand volatility seen last year. Looking back at 2011, much of the increase in demand for imported softwood logs was due to a massive increase in new log processing facilities across the East Coast. This spurred demand as sawmills filled their yards with logs not necessarily linked to demand for finished product. As a consequence the Chinese market built up and then shed inventory throughout the year, with variations of over 2.0 million m3 between cycles.

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Building on the strengths of the K-Series, John Deere has introduced the 844K Series II Wheel Loader to meet the demands of today’s evolving jobsite. The seven-yard class loader affords operators higher productivity, increased uptime and lower daily operating costs for a more valuable wheel loader experience. The improvements revolve around the new axles, improved stability and a six percent boost to full-turn tip-load capacity, Rollover Protective Structure (ROPS) certification, and low-profile tires.

“Our Customer Advisory Group (CAG) directly influenced the updates and modifications to the 844K Series II,” said John Chesterman, product marketing manager for wheel loaders, John Deere Construction & Forestry. “Customer feedback is paramount as we strive to better meet the needs and demands of owners and operators, and challenging jobsites. We’re confident the 844K Series II addresses the critical insight we received.”

The most significant customer-driven improvements are found in the 844K Series II axles. These new higher-capacity axles boast standard temperature monitoring and automatic cooling and filtration. In addition, the 844K II employs Hy-Gard^TM oil that allows change intervals to extend to 2,000 hours.

Additionally, the 844K II comes with four traction-boosting axle-differential configurations, including two with on-the-fly differential lock engagement:

• Front axle hydraulically actuated differential lock with on-the-fly engagement is ideal for pushing up piles.
• Front and rear axle hydraulically actuated differential lock with on-the-fly engagement provides maximum traction control for tough conditions, such as working on virgin aggregate banks.
• Auto differential lock that applies when the wheels spin and the operator doesn’t apply the differential lock themselves.
• Conventional differential lock is a good match for standard load-out applications.

An increased ROPS capacity enables the 844K II to enter the waste handling market via an optional package that allows the use of solid or foam-filled tires. The new ROPS has thicker internal components than the 844K and is certified to handle 88,000 pounds (38,916 kilograms). However, the increase in components does not impact the 844K II’s large cab and near 360-degree visibility.

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“The Emissions Hub is intended to improve our customers’ competitiveness in these challenging times by offering expert business resources, technology updates and news on emissions standards,” said Geoff Stigler, manager of worldwide marketing for John Deere Power Systems. “Blog visitors will be able to explore our resources, provide feedback and return frequently for the latest news and regulatory requirements - obtaining all the information they need to develop strategies and make the right decisions for their business.”

“Our customers are seeing increasing pressure to get their equipment up to speed as emissions regulation compliance deadlines approach,” said Joe Mastanduno, product marketing manager, engine/drivetrain for John Deere Construction & Forestry. “As questions arise, the Emissions Hub blog provides a place to come for answers. We look forward to listening to our customers and providing valuable information and insight to make compliance an opportunity, not an obstacle.”

In January 2012, what had been known as the Straightforward Blog became the John Deere Emissions Hub, residing at http://www.johndeereemissionshub.com/. Visitors to the former www.straightforwardblog.com site will be redirected to the new address.

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The AUSTimber 2012 town office will provide a central place to organise the event, meet suppliers, sponsors and exhibitors. People will be able to register for the conference and the expo and purchase their tickets via the office, as well as online. The town office will also provide an opportunity for public awareness for AUSTimber, as the 2012 expo site will be located 15kms outside of Mt Gambier, whereas in 2008 the site was just past the Blue Lake, which was easily in sight for  local residents. The AUSTimber 2012 town office space has been provided to AUSTimber organisers through the generous sponsorship support of the City of Mount Gambier.

New AUSTimber 2012 welcome banners at the four entrances into Mount Gambier will first appear from 31^st January/1^st February and the word  ‘welcome’ will be printed in a variety of languages, representing most of the nationalities visiting for the conference and expo.

David Quill, AUSTimber 2012 General Manager thanked the City of Mount Gambier for their support in providing the office space and reported that  “all the active forest sites on the plan are sold and we still have the ability to add more within the overall area of AUSTimber if required.  This, in effect, means that there will be seven harvesting and extraction operations within the pine plantation, five cut-to-length bluegum operations, four tree-length harvesting operations and four in-field chipping operations processing product that will be hauled off the site during the event.  (more…)

With a few exceptions, prices fell in both local currencies and in US dollar terms. The only region that saw any substantial price increase in the 3Q was British Columbia, where prices were up 5-7 percent from the 2Q. This region has benefited from higher lumber exports and production has gone up during 2011.

The biggest price declines the past quarter occurred in Japan, Sweden, Poland and Russia; prices were down between 6-12 percent from the 2Q/11. The three latter countries are major exporters of lumber, and shipments to European markets and Northern Africa have fallen this summer and fall. (more…)

Large pellet exporters to Europe (e.g., Canada, the U.S., the Baltics and Russia) tend to sell to the industrial market, while many European producers must sell to the higher-priced domestic wholesale market (+25%-30%), and the even higher-priced domestic “bagged” DIY/retail market (+50%-55%).

A very important factor in the global production/consumption equation is the fact that the European market consumes about 85% of the world’s pellet production. This means that most large producers in non-European countries rely heavily on the European industrial pellet market.

Source: International Wood Markets Group, www.woodmarkets.com

Last year over 250 forestry and finance business leaders came together for Carbon Forestry 2011. This was the first event of its type focussing on carbon forestry and carbon trading opportunities. Planning is already underway by the Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA) to design the Carbon Forestry 2012 event for Australasian foresters, financiers, investors, carbon traders and brokers and those involved in carbon offsetting. It’s planned to run again in Auckland on 22-23 August 2012.

At this early stage we would be interested in hearing from those companies or individuals that would like the opportunity to present - or be involved in displaying at the August programme. If keen on being involved in this year’s Carbon Forestry 2012 event, please email ken.wilson@fiea.org.nz BEFORE Friday 17 February.

• Noise suppression hood
• Spring loaded knife clamps for quick and safe knife change
• Load controlled feedworks which provide energy savings
• “Drop-away” anvil to protect the machine from accidental damage
• Screw auger under the feedworks to collect material that falls through the feed rollers - keeping the machine running efficiently without any build of waste underneath.

Our picture shows the existing chipper being replaced by the new one. The older machine will now be refurbished and put onto another of the company’s production lines. http://ajscott.co.uk/news/expansion-continues-at-aj-scott                       /www.bruks.com/en

 The 50th GradExpertTM will soon be delivered to the Canfor Group in Prince George, British Columbia. It’s not their first GradExpert either; in fact the Canfor Group has purchased 15 GradExpert lumber grade optimizers so far - a fitting testimony to  our customers’ faith in its capabilities!

A large part of the continued success of the GradExpert - from the very first delivery in 2004 to the 50th this year - is the fact that COMACT has always and will continue to improve, perfect and polish this product. COMACT strives to offer state-of-the-art equipment to all our clients, keeping us ahead of the competition. After all, we’ve had 50 opportunities to perfect the formula and to achieve the standard to create an automated classification system which exceeds the human eye.

http://www.comact.com/en-ca/solution.php

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The 16^th KWF- Meeting is scheduled to take place from June 13 to 16 in Bopfingen (Eastern Swabian Alb District).

Traditionally, the KWF- Meeting consists of three elements - Forest Machinery and Innovations DemoFair, field trips and a scientific congress.

http://www.kwf-tagung.org/en/home.html (more…)