Waikato Regional Council is writing to hundreds of forest owners in the region reminding them they need to register their forests by 31 March if they want to qualify for and claim Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) New Zealand units under the first five-year sequestration period of the Kyoto Protocol

Earlier in the week the news broke that a New Zealand-born billionaire was in negotiations with Gunns to buy a substantial part of the Tasmanian-based timber company. Gunns shares went into a trading halt on Tuesday and on Wednesday morning the company announced that they have agreed on commercial terms for the introduction of a AU$150 million investment from the Richard Chandler Corporation (RCC). In conjunction with a rights issue to existing shareholders, the recapitalisation aims to raise up to AU$280 million.

In response to the problems, and the costs, of wilding conifer control (ODT, 28.12.11) there is considerable scope to mitigate much of these costs with the recovery of saleable wood in the form of saw logs, post timber (roundwood), firewood and the potential income from chipping residue fo

New Zealand’s sawn timber exports to China have been ‘hammered’, while raw log shipments surged in the wake of Beijing’s efforts to cool the economy and amid increased sales by rival forestry nations such as Canada, according to an industry lobby group.Lumber exports fell 16 percent to $264 milli

Log exportation from New Zealand continues to rise at a record pace, with almost one-third of the country’s timber harvest being processed at sawmills in China. The high demand for logs from overseas has increased domestic sawlog prices to their highest levels in 15 years, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly.