THE timber industry has hit back at critics of the managed investment schemes (MIS) fuelling growth of plantations around the country, saying official Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) figures prove the forest industry has solid foundation.
The forest industry has bucked the trend of other industries by growing over the last 12 months, and particularly over the last six months of last year, according to the National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI).
“The ABARE report, Australian Forest and Wood Products Statistics, shows that forestry continues to grow, experiencing continued plantation expansion of more than 4 percent, to just under 2 million hectares and an increase in exports of 5 percent to reach $2.5 billion," NAFI CEO Allan Hansard says.
"This growth in the industry is in stark contrast to other key Australian industries that have suffered contractions in their activity and inevitable job losses over the same period.
“This report backs up what we’ve been saying: that forestry is a strong industry, with a solid foundation and, with increased plantation expansion is perfectly positioned to meet the increased demand for timber products as the world recovers from the current global financial crisis.
“These figures justify and confirm the Government’s plantation strategy driven by continued MIS projects.
"Over $6 billion has already been invested in rural and regional Australia, creating over 60,000 much needed jobs and a world class plantation based industry.
"The strong growth in exports from these plantations (up 13 percent in value terms) reflects the high regard world markets have for our plantation industry and the products they produce.
"This places the industry in good stead to ride through the global economic crisis and to rapidly grow in the future.
“Australia’s renewable, sustainable forestry industry also provides enormous environmental benefits that increase exponentially with the growth of the industry.
"As Australia’s only carbon positive industry, forestry has the capacity to sequester around 81 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere every year.
"In addition to the forests being carbon sinks, the products produced from them continue to store carbon, and the bioenergy produced from wood waste can significantly reduce Australia’s reliance on fossil fuels.”
Email a friend