Timber shortage: Exports not cause, mill closures are

Closure of mills is the bigger issue: Grant Dodson and logging contractor Tony Gamble (right).

Thu, 01 Apr 2021

The root cause of supply restrictions of structural timber relates to chronic, long term underinvestment in processing rather than a shortage of trees, forestry sector players say.Grant Dodson, chief executive of City Forests and chair of the Southern Wood Council, said while demand in Asian and other markets for New Zealand logs remained solid, domestic mills were now “flat out” due to escalated building sector demand.In contrast to complaints by producers that the current supply issue stems from China’s inflated and subsidis...

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