New Zealand is stoking China's log-jam

A mountain of logs ready to go at Northport. (Image: BusinessDesk)

Tue, 02 Apr 2024

New Zealand’s foresters continue to pile logs onto cargo ships destined for China despite more than four million cubic metres of inventory sitting on Chinese wharves.NZ radiata pine accounts for 85% of the stockpile, or about 3.4 million m3. At a current daily take-off rate of 60,000m3, the logs will take more than two months to draw down, according to forest management firm PF Olsen.The firm’s director of sales and marketing, Scott Downs, said NZ log exporters “don’t seem to understand the relationship between price and...

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