Australian timber industry news

Komatsu Forest has launched a new generation of forestry machines, where both harvesters and forwarders have been comprehensively updated to meet the evolving demands of modern forestry. Source: Timberbiz The new range combines improved productivity with reduced environmental impact, focusing on efficiency, operator comfort and long-term reliability. The launch includes a complete update of Komatsu’s harvester portfolio as well as a new generation of six-cylinder forwarders. Across both segments, the upgrades are centred around a new engine platform, enhanced driveline performance and a more refined operator environment. At the core of the new generation is the AP Core engine, designed to deliver higher power and torque while enabling more efficient operation. The increased engine performance makes it possible to operate at lower engine speeds while maintaining – or in many cases improving – productivity. In the harvester range, all seven models have been upgraded. New crane designs play an important role in this development. The cranes feature a more robust design, with additional cast components and increased dimensions in key areas. This improves durability, particularly in demanding operations, while maintaining high performance and precision. The hydraulic system has been optimised to reduce pressure losses and improve overall efficiency, while a revised hydrostatic transmission enables high performance at lower engine speeds. Together with the engine updates, these improvements contribute to reduced fuel consumption and lower CO₂ emissions, while supporting efficient performance in a wide range of operating conditions. “We have focused on delivering more performance where it matters, while also improving efficiency,” said Joakim Johansson, Product Manager, Harvesters. “The new generation gives operators more capability in demanding conditions, while enabling lower engine speeds and more fuel-efficient operation in everyday work.” The new forwarders – Komatsu 855, 875 and 895 – benefit from similar core upgrades, including the same engine platform and an updated transmission. These changes enable higher transport speeds, improved traction and increased productivity in challenging terrain. “We continue to develop our forwarders with a clear focus on productivity and usability,” says Daniel Grabbe, Product Manager, Forwarders. “The improvements in engine efficiency, driveline performance and serviceability all contribute to lower cost per cubic metre and a more reliable machine in daily operations.” Additional updates in the forwarder range include flexible load configurations, improved crane performance and several design changes that simplify service and maintenance. A redesigned access system and improved component layout also enhance operator safety and daily usability. With the Next Generation range, Komatsu Forest continues its focus on delivering machines that combine productivity, operator experience and environmental consideration – supporting forestry operations both today and in the future.

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Water is essential to making pulp and paper. Domtar’s Water Reduction Capex Fund sets aside a portion of capital spending solely for projects that help conserve water. Domtar’s mill teams submit competing proposals, and since 2023, the company has saved 2.3 billion gallons of water per year through the program. Source: Timberbiz Since 2023, employee-led projects at 10 Domtar mills have reduced the company’s water use by more than 2.3 billion gallons a year — enough to fill 3,480 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Twenty-four projects, designed and driven by the people who know the mills best, are helping Domtar’s paper and packaging mills reach the company’s water target: a 20% reduction in water-use intensity by 2030, compared to 2020 levels. The program works like a competition. Through the Water Reduction Capex Fund, Domtar sets aside a portion of capital spending solely for water-reduction projects, and mill teams submit proposals for a share of it. There’s one unusual rule. “The projects didn’t need to provide a financial return. The priority was saving water,” said Brian Kozlowski, senior director of environment and sustainability for Domtar’s Paper and Packaging business unit. “That gave our employees the chance to think beyond the bottom line and they really did.” The best water-saving ideas didn’t come from headquarters. They came from operators, engineers and maintenance teams who saw where water could work harder, often in places most people never think about. Some projects put used water back to work. When a new sheet of paper is made, the water that drains away (papermakers call it white water, because it’s cloudy with wood fibre) can be captured and put back to use instead of being replaced with fresh water. The same goes for cooling water, which carries heat away from equipment: instead of running it through once and letting it go, teams rerouted it to cooling towers, where it sheds its heat and goes back to work again. Other projects stop the draw before it starts. Many industrial pumps run a constant trickle of water (called “seal water”) to keep their moving parts cool and sealed tight. A trickle sounds small, but run it around the clock across hundreds of pumps and it adds up to millions of gallons; swapping older-style pump packing for modern mechanical seals cuts that trickle to nearly nothing. Flow regulators help deliver only the water the job actually needs. And converting open-loop cooling, where water passes through once and leaves, to closed-loop systems that recirculate the same water can eliminate that demand entirely. The first year of the competition alone produced 10 projects at seven mills, saving more than one billion gallons annually. The program has since grown to 24 completed projects at 10 mills and the healthy competition between mills that leaders hoped for is real. This spring, Domtar’s Nekoosa Mill in Wisconsin earned the company’s internal Water Reduction Award for a series of conservation initiatives projected to save more than 129 million gallons. The results are showing up on the company scoreboard. According to Domtar’s Q2 2026 sustainability strategy update, the Water Reduction Capex Fund has now completed its third year of projects, and water use across the Paper & Packaging business unit is down 10% from 2020 levels through the first quarter of 2026, halfway to the 2030 target. The program earned the American Forest & Paper Association’s Leadership in Sustainability – Water Management award in 2024.

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Finnish forest investments had a better performance during the first half of 2026 compared with their counterparts in Sweden. Finland’s H1 return reached 5.9%, supported by a Q2 gain of 7.1%. In Sweden, H1 returns fell to -6.6% as Q2 declined by -7.3%. On a twelve-month basis, returns remained negative in both markets, with Finland at -11.7% and Sweden at -15.0%. Source: Timberbiz However, despite recent negative returns, Sweden continues to outperform Finland over the medium term. Strong quarterly returns in Sweden following Q1/2024 have resulted in substantial value accumulation for forest owners. By Q2/2026, the index level was at 127.4, corresponding to a cumulative return of 27.4%. In Finland, the corresponding index reached 109.4, representing a cumulative return of 9.4%. Both index levels declined sharply from the peak levels reached in Q2/2025, as shown in the figure. Changes in stumpage revenues, calculated as the sum of changes in timber prices and harvest volumes, continue to be the main factor explaining return fluctuations in both countries. In Finland, pulpwood prices diverged from sawlog prices recently, as pulpwood has seen a relatively larger decrease in price. Furthermore, the prices have decreased since June, while biological growth continued to provide a stable positive contribution to returns. Indufor’s Forest Investment Return Index now covers both Finland and Sweden, representing almost 30% of EU wood market and nearly one million forest owners. The index measures private forest returns using public market data on timber prices, standing stock volumes, harvests and forest management costs. The methodology is based on the Montgomery-Vartia index, allowing the total return to be consistently decomposed into its underlying components. Founded in 1980, Indufor Oy is an internationally recognised forest sector consultancy headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with experience in more than 100 countries.

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When Forest Growers Research (NZ) launched its 2025 Youth Micro Innovation Challenge, it set out to unlock the ingenuity of young forestry professionals working at the frontline. For Establishment Forester Tessa McCarthy, the spark for her winning idea came from working in blackberry as a graduate. Source: Timberbiz “I started working with pruning crews in May last year,” she says. “We had a really warm autumn and we were in quite a tough blackberry block. I was watching the guys push their way through. They either chose to have no arm protection to manage the heat, or they wore two hoodies and overheated.” Neither option sat well with her. Bare arms meant scratches and thorns. And in forestry, blackberry scratches aren’t minor inconveniences – they can become infected, layered on top of old cuts, day after day. Hoodies reduced the scratches but created a different risk. “If they’re not keeping up hydration, that exposes them to heat exhaustion,” Ms McCarthy said. “Sometimes you can push through it, but it hits you later. Or the next day.” For Ms McCarthy, it was clearly a health and safety issue, but also a wellbeing issue. “It’s mentally challenging too. It’s an environment where you just have to push through,” she said. One simple question emerged: If we’ve got leg chaps, why don’t we have arm chaps? Before the challenge even opened, Ms McCarthy had begun experimenting. In true upcycling style, she salvaged old car seat covers destined for the bin to use as canvas. When the Youth Micro Innovation Challenge was announced, it felt like the right pathway to take her idea further. Unlike traditional funding rounds, the process was deliberately simple. No lengthy business case – just a clear explanation of how the innovation would improve forestry. With up to $10,000 available and a fast-track timeframe, it was designed to move ideas quickly into proof-of-concept. Ms McCarthy’s concept, Forestry Arm Chaps, was selected as one of two winners. The funding allowed her to purchase an industrial sewing machine and materials to build a robust prototype. But as with most forestry projects, the timeline had to flex around operational realities. Planting season was intense, and Ms McCarthy negotiated an extension so she could give the design the attention it deserved. She completed her first field test in early December with a volunteer from a crew working in Murupara. “I was a bit nervous,” she admits. “At first, they looked at me like … what is this? But once I showed them, they were really encouraging. They said it’s something they would use and wanted to be part of the trial.” That response mattered. “If you design PPE that’s more of a hindrance than a help, it just won’t be adopted.” Arm protection isn’t entirely new in forestry. But Ms McCarthy is clear that her design targets a very specific user group: pruners operating in high-intensity, high-movement environments. “With plotting, you’re putting your arm around the tree and breaking through blackberry. With pruning, there’s so much more movement. You’re bending your arms all day, stretching your back, climbing ladders. Your joint movement can’t be impacted.” That insight shaped every design decision. While other arm chaps she’d seen were full canvas, Tessa introduced flexible neoprene panels at the elbow to allow natural movement and reduce pinching. “Full canvas would just pinch all day.” She also added a soft cuff at the wrist for comfort. She has also replaced Velcro closures with adjustable buckles for durability and longevity. “Velcro wears out. I want this to last.” Back straps were redesigned to accommodate the wide variation in men’s body shapes. This year, a full-size range, from small to XL, were produced for trials involving crews in dense blackberry blocks where the benefits were expected to be the most evident. Feedback to date has been overwhelmingly positive, with users reporting they “love them”. Contractors R & L Contracting are providing feedback from the field and KT’s Tree Establishment Manager Rob Brown has been a sounding board for Tessa during trials. OHS Partnering General Manager Ian Barrett applauds Ms McCarthy’s efforts. “Tessa has taken a real frontline challenge, listened to the people doing the work, and developed a solution that has the potential to reduce injury risk, improve comfort and support better wellbeing in tough operating conditions,” he said. Ms McCarthy is now working on a name for her product, but she says the goal isn’t commercial success. “I’m not money driven. I’m people focused. If I can improve the working environment of the workers out there, that’s what matters,” she said. Ms McCarthy also recognises the potential beyond forestry. Farmers, lifestyle block owners, conservation workers, even search and rescue volunteers could benefit from flexible arm protection in thorny environments. In five years? “If there’s demand, it could go further,” she says. More than anything, the journey has reinforced her belief in backing your ideas. “Don’t let doubt deter you,” she says. “People will tell you it’s already been done. I’ve had that. But you can’t let that stop you from giving it a go.” The process has also equipped her with practical innovation skills she’ll carry into her forestry career – understanding design, testing, iteration, and the importance of end-user feedback. In a way, the project has brought together two of her passions. “I was almost going to study fashion design,” she said. “It came down to fashion or forestry.” Forestry won, but through the Micro Innovation Challenge, the two have merged in an unexpected and impactful way.

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A senior Indonesian forester whose work focused on his country’s native forest species, Dr Anto Rimbawanto likes to joke that he was destined for the field. Part of his surname, rimba, means ‘lush forest’ in Indonesian. Source: Timberbiz For more than four decades, Dr Rimbawanto has dedicated his career to advancing the understanding and sustainable management of Indonesia’s forest resources as a researcher with the then Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s Agency for Forest Research and Development and, later, the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN). Through much of that journey, collaboration with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) connected him and his team with Australian researchers through joint research, training and capacity development. Having stepped back from a lifetime devoted to forestry, Dr Rimbawanto reflects on a partnership that has connected researchers, strengthened scientific capacity and delivered lasting benefits for Indonesia’s forestry sector and the communities that depend on it. ACIAR’s forestry partnership in Indonesia spans more than three decades, bringing together researchers and institutions from both countries to address shared forestry challenges and deliver practical benefits for forest-dependent communities. The partnership has also deepened Australia’s understanding of tropical forestry systems and plantation species across the region. Dr Rimbawanto was at the centre of many of these collaborations. A specialist in forest genetics and tree improvement, Dr Rimbawanto played a leading role in eight ACIAR-supported forestry projects over 25 years. His work tackled plantation forest diseases, improved cajuput varieties (Melaleuca cajuputi) and applied DNA technologies to strengthen plantation productivity and resilience. For Dr Rimbawanto, the research was never just about trees. ‘It is about ensuring plantation forests continue to provide materials and economic opportunities for communities across Indonesia.’ Over the years, Dr Rimbawanto collaborated with Australian researchers from universities, research agencies and industry on a wide range of forestry challenges. One of ACIAR’s greatest strengths is its ability to connect Indonesian research institutions with leading research organisations and universities in Australia. Working together allowed us to share knowledge, learn from different approaches and address challenges that affect both our countries. One recent example is a regional forest biosecurity project that brought scientists and communities together to detect threats early, strengthen surveillance and protect forest livelihoods. By combining Indonesian expertise and local knowledge with Australian innovation and regional networks, the project contributes to regional preparedness for emerging forest pests and diseases that cross national boundaries. In the project, Dr Rimbawanto tested acacia and eucalyptus species that are shared by Indonesia and Australia and widely grown in Indonesia to supply the pulp and paper industry. The work identified varieties better suited to disease-prone areas, supporting productivity and giving communities access to more resilient planting material. Some of Dr Rimbawanto’s most widely felt impact came through his work on cajuput, a tree species native to eastern Indonesia, Timor-Leste and northern Australia. Its oil has been a fixture in Indonesian households for generations as a trusted natural remedy. As demand for cajuput oil grew, his work on improved planting material and practical guidance contributed to more productive plantations and more reliable incomes. The research also became an important part of his partnership with ACIAR, which supported his team’s breeding program through specialised training, technical expertise and tools, including analysis of leaf oil content. The impact of this work extended well beyond the laboratory. In 2022, the Kofarwis farmer group in Biak Numfor Regency that he supported received the Kalpataru Award, Indonesia’s highest environmental accolade. Their experience has since become a model for community-led, environmentally responsible forestry in other villages. Two years later, Dr Rimbawanto received Satyalancana Pembangunan, Indonesia’s Medal of Honour for Development, recognising years of work with farming groups and communities, including supporting the shift from illegal logging to sustainable cultivation. Dr Nick Hogarth, ACIAR Research Program Manager for Forestry said Dr Rimbawanto’s generosity and commitment to supporting others had strengthened relationships, knowledge and capability that would continue benefiting Indonesia’s forestry sector into the future. Through ACIAR-supported capacity development programs, 10 researchers and academics from Indonesia’s forestry sector whom he mentored completed John Allwright Fellowship and postgraduate studies in Australia, returning with new skills, professional networks and strengthened research expertise.

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WorkSafe New Zealand has confirmed that the Workplace Exposure Standard (WES) for softwood dust will remain at its current level of 2 mg/m³. The decision follows a recent consultation on proposed WES values for softwood dust, hardwood dust, flour dust and welding fumes.  Source: Timberbiz As part of the outcome, WorkSafe has also confirmed that the WES for hardwood dust will increase from 0.5 mg/m³ to 1 mg/m³, and that it no longer intends to combine the softwood and hardwood dust exposure standards in the future. The Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association of New Zealand Chief Executive Mark Ross said the decision reflected a practical and evidence-based approach that considers the realities faced by New Zealand softwood (Radiata Pine) manufacturers and wood processors. Alongside confirming the revised WES values, WorkSafe has released a range of new plain-language resources to help businesses better understand workplace exposure standards and manage risks associated with harmful airborne substances. The resources include educational videos, practical case studies, and guidance on working with occupational hygienists. These resources are available on the WorkSafe website at: https://www.worksafe.govt.nz/topic-and-industry/monitoring/ Workplace Exposure Standards are guideline values used to help assess worker exposure to airborne substances such as dusts and fumes. They are not mandatory limits or regulatory targets. Businesses should continue to focus on eliminating exposure wherever possible, or minimising exposure so far as is reasonably practicable using effective controls. Mr Ross said the outcome demonstrates the value of constructive engagement between industry and regulators. “We thank Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden and the WorkSafe team for listening to industry concerns and taking a common-sense approach to setting workplace exposure standards for softwood dust,” he said. “This outcome provides greater certainty for businesses while maintaining a strong focus on worker health and safety.”

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UNSW Sydney and Fire and Rescue NSW have launched iFire 2.0, the world’s first AI-driven scenario-modelling system that allows firefighters and communities to experience and prepare for megafire conditions before they occur. Source: Timberbiz The technology will be demonstrated at AFAC26 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Combining artificial intelligence, immersive visualisation and advanced simulation, iFire 2.0 is designed to strengthen emergency response capability and community resilience as fire seasons become more extreme. Building on iFire 1.0, showcased at UNSW earlier this year, the new system uses advanced machine-learning trained on a large fire-behaviour data sets to model fast-moving, unpredictable fires like those seen during Australia’s Black Summer and current European seasons. iFire provides an immersive environment where users can navigate simulated firegrounds, practise decision-making under pressure and rehearse response strategies safely. “Megafires can behave in ways that defy established expectations and response procedures,” Scientia Professor Dennis Del Favero, Director of the iCinema Research Centre at UNSW Sydney said. “iFire 2.0 lets users rehearse their response to these unpredictable conditions in a safe, immersive environment. By selecting variables such as wind speed and temperature, users can generate and explore extreme fire scenarios, rehearse their preparedness and develop the confidence and resilience needed when conditions become catastrophic. “The partnership demonstrates the value of collaboration between emergency services and academia in driving innovation and developing next-generation capability for firefighters and communities alike.” The technology can support operational planning, incident management training, community preparedness and post-event review. It is intended to complement established practical training by providing a safe, repeatable environment to rehearse responses to uncertain and rapidly evolving fire conditions. The iFire program is part of a five-year partnership between UNSW and Fire and Rescue NSW. Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1woqOLfV8wM

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Western Australia’s Housing Minister John Carey will open WoodSolutions Built Evolution, hosted by Timber Insight, on the state’s housing delivery transition, before a panel spanning lending, apartment advocacy, off-site manufacture, and the housing industry takes the same stage. Source: Timberbiz Mr Carey MLA will open the day at Crown Perth on 16 September, with conference organiser Craig Oatway, CEO of Timber Insight, moderating the panel that follows, titled “The Role of MMC in Affordable Housing.” The panel will sit one session after the minister. Minister Carey awarded $49 million to 15 local manufacturers in May, and the builders and manufacturers who received will be in the audience. Mr Oatway counts almost half of that funding as directed to timber-based operations, with matched private investment putting more than $40 million into bio-based building systems. This conference forms part of WoodSolutions, Forest and Wood Products Australia’s program for the built environment, which works to drive greater demand for timber across the construction sector. Delivered in partnership with Timber Insight, the event is one of a series of initiatives in Western Australia aimed at increasing industry confidence, specification, and adoption of timber and modern construction systems. The Built Evolution event brings together speakers and practitioners from across the built environment to showcase timber structures in multi-residential, commercial and single-dwelling projects. Designed as a learning-focused conference, the event highlights timber construction and modern methods of construction (MMC), offering practical, project-based insights from industry experts. For suppliers, manufacturers and service providers to the timber and construction sector, Built Evolution offers a rare opportunity: a full day with a concentrated audience of the people who specify, design, approve and build, all gathered specifically to learn how to deliver more projects using sustainable timber-based systems. Speaking ahead of the conference, Mr Oatway said the case for modern construction in affordable housing runs on speed, prefabrication, off-site manufacture, and quality control across the public and private sector, leaving the state with “a really great asset base of social housing that’s going to be around for generations”. The panel at Built Evolution runs across the delivery chain, Michael McGowan will bring the Housing Industry Association’s market outlook from the previous session, and Keystart’s Liam Loan-Lack will bring the state-backed lender that funds first-homeowners. Mr Oatway added that Sam Reece of Australian Apartment Advocacy will complete the panel and she will be talking to that need for density, “Affordable housing won’t be solved by talking about innovation; it will be solved by adopting it,” said Norm Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of OFFSITE. “Developers are embracing panelised timber and offsite construction because they deliver greater certainty, faster build times and reduced reliance on constrained labour markets. “The question is no longer whether MMC works. The market has already answered that.” For more information on the event https://events.humanitix.com/built-evolution-transitioning-to-timber-and-mmc

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Forest & Wood Communities Australia (FWCA) is urging senators to closely examine an apparent 85-year liability gap in the Improved Native Forest Management (INFM) carbon method before deciding whether to disallow it. Source: Timberbiz The call follows the Nature Conservation Council-led statement urging the Greens to save the INFM method and claiming that, over 100 years, only around 10% of the carbon benefit would be converted into carbon credits, leaving around 90% as an additional emissions reduction. FWCA Executive Officer Steve Dobbyns said such claims make it even more important that Senators understand exactly how the method’s 100-year promise works. “A modelled carbon benefit over 100 years is not the same thing as a guaranteed carbon benefit over 100 years,” he said. “Before Senators rely on claims that 90% of the benefit will remain in the atmosphere as additional abatement, they need to know who carries the liability if the assumptions about leakage, permanence or fire prove wrong.” The 85-year question The INFM has a 15-year crediting period but a 100-year permanence period. Section 18 is intended to account for increased harvesting and leakage during years 16–100. But its specific obligation to cancel ACCUs applies to: “A project proponent that is a State or the government of a State…” At the same time, section 15 expressly contemplates a project proponent that is not the State or State Government. “The wording therefore appears to allow a non-State entity, potentially including a private investment entity, to become the approved project proponent without being captured by section 18’s specific 85-year cancellation obligation,” Mr Dobbyns said. “This is not a minor drafting issue. Section 18 deals with increased harvesting elsewhere in public and private native forests – precisely the leakage that could undermine the claimed climate benefit.” The issue is more concerning because the exposure draft did not contain the same apparent gap. It restricted proponents to State Governments or designated State authorities and applied the post-crediting obligation to “the project proponent”. The final method opened the door to non-State proponents while expressly framing section 18 around State-government proponents. The Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation (ACBF) has publicly acknowledged its involvement in developing and promoting the INFM concept, including work with the INFM’s lead developer Professor Andrew Macintosh at ANU. The Chair, former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry, continues to publicly champion INFM as a means of replacing native forest harvesting with carbon revenue. FWCA is also aware of major institutional-investor interest in monetising forest carbon. “We are not alleging that ACBF, an investor or any individual caused this drafting change,” Mr Dobbyns said. “But when private investment in forest carbon is clearly contemplated, Parliament is entitled to ask whether opening the method to private proponents while limiting the specific 85-year liability to State proponents was deliberate.” “If it was accidental, fix it. If it was deliberate, explain it before the Senate votes.” ERAC’s own advice raises the same question The Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee relied on the years 16-100 safeguard when finding that the method met the Conservative Offsets Integrity Standard. Its published advice says that if harvesting increases elsewhere in the State: “the proponent must cancel” the appropriate ACCUs. But final section 18 does not say simply, “the proponent”. It expressly refers to a proponent “that is a State or the government of a State”. FWCA says Senators should ask whether ERAC assessed the final method on the understanding that the 85-year safeguard applied to every permissible project proponent. FWCA said today’s claim of a 100-year carbon benefit also raises a separate permanence question. “Protected from timber harvesting for 100 years is not the same thing as protected from bushfire for 100 years.” Under the broader ACCU Scheme, a significant natural disturbance such as bushfire must be reported. But previously issued ACCUs are not automatically cancelled simply because a forest burns. Depending on the circumstances, the Clean Energy Regulator may require lost carbon stores to be restored or ACCUs to be relinquished. The scheme also applies a 5 per cent risk-of-reversal buffer. “So, Senators should ask: if a major or repeated bushfire reverses carbon used to justify the project, who bears the cost of restoring that carbon and under exactly what circumstances are previously issued credits returned?” Mr Dobbyns asked. “The NCC is asking Senators to rely on a claimed 100-year climate benefit. Senators are entitled to understand the risks and liabilities sitting behind that claim.” Senators should not vote blind FWCA is asking Senators to obtain clear answers before voting: Can a private entity become an INFM project proponent? Does section 18’s specific 85-year cancellation liability apply to it? If not, what equivalent mechanism accounts for State-wide leakage? Why were the proponent and section 18 provisions changed after consultation? Who sought or proposed those changes? Did ERAC assess the final wording knowing about the distinction? What happens to the claimed 100-year carbon benefit following major or repeated bushfire, and who ultimately carries that financial risk?   “The INFM is already contentious over additionality, leakage, baselines and carbon accounting. This apparent 85-year gap further undermines confidence in the methodology.” “We are not asking Senators to accept FWCA’s interpretation without scrutiny. We are asking them not to vote blind,” Mr Dobbyns said. “Individual projects could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in carbon credits while claiming climate benefits lasting a century. The legal and financial responsibility for delivering that promise must be absolutely clear before the Senate votes.”

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Independent Member for Wagga Wagga Dr Joe McGirr has thrown his support behind a Softwoods Working Group (SWG) push for major investment in roads and other infrastructure supporting the Southwest Slopes timber industry. Source: Tumut & Adelong Times Dr McGirr has written to the NSW ministers for Natural Resources and Regional Transport backing SWG’s five-point roadmap ahead of the 2027 state election. At the centre of the plan is a call for an immediate $18 million investment in regional road upgrades, including works on Batlow Road, Bombowlee Creek Road and Wagga-Tumbarumba Road. SWG executive officer Carlie Porteous said road funding was one of the group’s most pressing priorities, with the region moving up to 5.7 million tonnes of product each year. “In order to do this safely and more efficiently, we would encourage the NSW government and candidates to the upcoming election to look at the need for better regional road funding,” Ms Porteous said. She said SWG also wanted consideration given to a Regional Local Government preparedness program aimed at helping smaller McGirr goes to bat for forestry investment push regional councils access funding for critical infrastructure upgrades. The $18 million package includes proposed upgrades to Blue Cut Bridge, Jacksons Bridge and Glenroy Bridge, which SWG says are too narrow and have limited visibility on approach. “There are a number of bridges that we have had independently assessed for safety and volume of traffic and are considered as ‘urgent’,” Ms Porteous said. “We have real concerns about the safety of all users of these bridges.” The SWG roadmap also proposes overtaking lanes on sections of Batlow Road and other road improvements aimed at increasing safety and freight efficiency. Dr McGirr said the scale of the timber industry made the requested investment important to the region’s economic future. “These numbers illustrate the massive importance of the industry to our region and demonstrate why the SWG’s relatively modest requests are essential to our social and economic future,” he said. The SWG says the South West Slopes softwood plantation and timber processing sector supports more than 5500 regional jobs and contributes almost $2.3 billion annually to the regional economy. Dr McGirr has also backed the group’s proposal for funding to help smaller councils make infrastructure projects “shovel ready”, as well as the establishment of a Strategic Plantation Economic Zone. The proposed zone would identify suitable areas for plantation development and coordinate planning, infrastructure, regulation and government investment in areas including roads, bushfire risk and weed management. He said the NSW government’s draft Strategic Integrated Regional Transport Plan had also acknowledged concerns about Blue Cut Bridge, which carries about 500,000 tonnes of timber freight each year. “The inclusion of the bridge in the SRITP provides an important framework to advocate for improvements not only to the bridge itself but also to the entire transport infrastructure that supports our softwoods supply chain,” Dr McGirr said. Ms Porteous said SWG planned to take its roadmap to all sides of politics and as many candidates as possible before next year’s election. “The SWG values its ongoing relationship with the NSW government and will happily work closely with the next NSW government on practical and solutions-based outcomes,” she said. Dr McGirr said he would continue pressing the current government for action rather than waiting for the March election. “The SWG’s plan is aimed largely at new governments following the election next March, but I think it’s important to continually remind the current government of the need for this investment and I look forward to further advancing the case in parliamentary sittings later this year,” he said.

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The Ontario government is investing more than CAN$3m in initiatives to expand markets for forest biomass and strengthen supply chains across the province’s forest sector. Source: Panels & Furniture Asia The funding will support five projects, including new biomass energy facilities, technology that converts wood residues into coatings and inks, and a programme to connect privately owned forests with businesses seeking biomass. More than CAN$2.1m has been allocated to four projects through the Forest Sector Investment and Innovation Programme and the Forest Biomass Programme. The largest share, more than CAN$1.9m, will go to Ben Hokum and Son to install two biomass-assisted steam kilns. The investment is expected to triple the company’s lumber-drying capacity, improve efficiency and increase export sales by more than 30%. Ben Hokum and Son will receive a further CAN$100,000 to plan a biomass-powered facility that would generate electricity and thermal energy. The proposed facility would incorporate carbon capture and storage technology, with the goal of achieving net-negative emissions. Ontario is also providing CAN$87,500 to TorchLight Bioresources for a feasibility study into a combined heat and power plant in Petawawa. The proposed project would replace natural gas with energy generated from forest biomass. Carboform will receive CAN$62,500 to further develop technology that converts forest biomass residues into low-carbon coatings and inks. Together, the three biomass projects have the long-term potential to use more than 350,000 tonnes of forest biomass a year, according to the provincial government. A separate investment of CAN$865,000 will support the Ontario Woodlot Association in improving the management of privately owned forests and developing new supply chains for underused wood and mill by-products. Of this, CAN$790,000 from the Forest Biomass Program will support the association’s Wood Stewardship Program, including the creation of three jobs and the purchase of equipment. The programme will establish three regional networks linking landowners, forestry service providers and forest-sector businesses. It is expected to use up to 100,000 cubic m of forest biomass over five years. The biomass could be used in value-added products including biochar, compost and mulch. Additional revenue from underused wood could also help landowners offset the costs of forest management. The remaining CAN$75,000 will support workshops, conferences, publications and collaboration to promote sustainable forest management on private land. The funding will also help develop an inventory of private forests using remote-sensing technology. The investments form part of Ontario’s 10-year Roadmap to Protecting Ontario’s Forest Sector, which aims to strengthen the industry’s competitiveness, support innovation and develop new markets for Ontario-made forest products. “Our government is helping forest sector businesses build international reach and bring competitive products to market,” said Kevin Holland, Associate Minister of Forestry and Forest Products. “Under our forest sector roadmap, we’re driving the industry’s continued growth and showcasing Ontario’s capacity as a G7 leader in innovative manufacturing.” Ontario’s forest sector generates close to CAN$21bn in business revenue and supports nearly 155,000 jobs, according to the provincial government.

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Ponsse has launched the Ponsse Wisent Thin Line and Ponsse Scorpion Thin Line forest machine models, which are optimized specifically for harvesting in thinning forests. Sales of the Thin Line versions will begin immediately and production at the Vieremä factory will begin later this year. Source: Timberbiz Ponsse Wisent Thin Line is a 10-ton forwarder designed for harvesting in thinning forests. The load space solution optimized for thinning makes working easier and makes the machine an agile choice for first thinning and other thinning sites. The lighter overall weight and lower ground pressures improve its suitability for harvesting in soft soils. The forwarder’s lighting has also been developed based on operator feedback. “Thinning operations emphasize the machine’s agility, visibility and ability to work efficiently in areas with limited space. We decided to optimize two of our popular forest machine models precisely for these needs. The new versions of Scorpion and Wisent offer our customers a ready-made solution for thinning work,” said Ponsse’s Sales, Service and Marketing Director Marko Mattila. Facts about Thin Line Wisent: Smaller and user-friendly load space optimized for thinning Excellent agility in thinning areas Low ground pressure for harvesting in soft ground due to lower overall weight Good balance and terrain characteristics on slopes and rocky construction sites Strong engine and good traction for demanding conditions High-quality audio system Improved, user-friendly lighting Renewed appearance.   The Scorpion Thin Line is based on the Scorpion harvester, whose strengths include excellent visibility of the working area, stable operation, and good crane reach and manoeuvrability. In the Thin Line version, the machine’s adjustments have been optimized especially for thinning operations to ensure the best possible fuel economy. The Ponsse H5 and new H6 harvester heads are available for the Scorpion Thin Line harvester. “Thinning is a key part of silviculture and the daily work of many of our customers. In thinning felling, the work trace is of great importance – it is influenced in particular by the driver’s professionalism, but the right choice of machine also plays a role. With the new Scorpion and Wisent versions, harvesting professionals have more diverse options than ever before,” said Mr Mattila. Facts about the Thin Line Scorpion: The best visibility and lighting for the work area on the market — the driver is truly at the centre Unique and patented leveling and stabilization system Powerful crane with precise control and long reach Optional Active Crane enables more productive and efficient crane control Cab that supports driver comfort and ergonomics Lower fuel consumption due to optimized settings for thinning Low surface pressures for harvesting soft ground High-quality audio system and sound reproduction Renewed appearance.

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Foster + Partners is part of a UK-EU consortium that has won a €4 million, three-year research grant from the European Innovation Council’s Pathfinder funding program. The winning proposal – the SWIFT-BUILD (Swarm-based Inverted Fabrication for Timber Buildings) system – uses swarms of robotic assemblers and lifting units to efficiently build modular timber structures that can be adapted over time and disassembled on demand. Source: Timberbiz By focusing on timber as a structural material, SWIFT-BUILD combines innovation in automated construction with sustainability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency. “Combining state-of-the-art robotics and integrated AI tools, SWIFT-BUILD’s inverted construction method can adapt to various scales and uses, with the potential for wide-reaching applications. The focus on timber modular construction highlights the project’s sustainable agenda, with circularity and flexibility at its core,” Irene Gallou, Senior Partner, Foster + Partners, said. SWIFT-BUILD develops an inverted robotic construction system that builds timber structures from the top down – assembling each floor at ground level, then lifting it upward to make room for the next. A team of coordinated robots handles the work: ground-based machines assemble and lift the structure layer by layer, while drones fly overhead to monitor progress and flag any issues in real time. The robots share information continuously, allowing them to adapt and operate safely without constant human intervention. The project will culminate in a full-scale demonstration: an autonomous robotic swarm will construct a timber pavilion. The structure will be mechanically reversible by design, enabling selective disassembly and material recovery to demonstrate circularity and sustainability. Foster + Partners is acting as the consortium’s industry partner, participating alongside academic partners: the University of Bristol, the University of Southern Denmark, the Technical University of Munich, the University of Pisa, the Delft University of Technology, the University of Birmingham, and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

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Gisborne forestry companies have halted harvesting as complex consent conditions make it difficult to operate or convert land use, industry leaders say. Source: The Gisborne Herald After severe weather events, including Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023, Gisborne District Council (GDC) introduced stricter consent rules to reduce the risk of woody debris reaching beaches and waterways. The forestry industry raised concerns that the conditions were unworkable, prompting an independent council review and Forestry Minister Todd McClay appointing a facilitator to assist with land use and consent discussions. Forestry Management NZ (FMNZ) general manager harvesting Matt Doyle said they supported the moves. “The industry accepts that environmental risk is real, particularly in Gisborne, and we support proportionate regulation, but our concerns are that the current conditions that are coming through and the draft conditions are quite often conflicting or unachievable in the natural environment.” Industry wanted to work with all parties to find a workable solution because “it’s not us versus them. It’s a Gisborne region thing”, he said. During harvest, crews cleared waterways of debris caused by soil, tree size and harvest activity. Without harvest, “that large amount of material just stays choked in the waterways and ultimately is waiting for the next event”. Doyle said clean-up conditions for slopes varied. “Some conditions allow a sensible and manageable volume of woody debris in high-risk zones, which is workable, while others don’t allow any material or any size, which is not achievable.” The conflicting conditions had caused significant delays in consent grants, he said. One consent was granted after 14 months of negotiation. “Part of the delay is that FMNZ have been negotiating over conditions that simply won’t work. There have been multiple meetings to discuss the conditions that are unachievable, but GDC have not been able to change them. “Much of the delays in consent approvals have been either dealing with unnecessary back-and-forth queries or an inability to gain workable conditions.” Doyle said these consents needed to be in place up to a year and a half before ground-based harvest and engineering crews could begin work. With current delays, FMNZ was sending crews to Wairoa, where Doyle said Hawke’s Bay Regional Council took a more pragmatic, on-site approach to resolving issues. Moving crews elsewhere would buy the industry limited time before skilled workers left the region, taking families and economic activity with them, and trees in problematic sites would continue growing, he said. “There are areas that shouldn’t have been planted, but they are, and the only way to correct those is to harvest them now, so then you can enable conversion.” Eastland Wood Council chair Julian Kohn said the industry supported better environmental outcomes and had spent five years redesigning harvesting practices, skid sites, debris placement and culverts. However, the consenting process was preventing the transition of erosion-prone forest under the council’s transition programme, he said. “The industry has a significant set of skills and resources to help make that happen, but if we’re not able to do that because we can’t function as a business, we can’t continue to operate in this region.” Contractors were leaving Gisborne, while some companies were buying farmland elsewhere to establish forests or shifting plantations to carbon forestry, he said. “They’ll just lock the gate and walk away. That means those stands are not being managed appropriately during an environmental event.” Kohn said harvesting consent costs in Gisborne had roughly doubled since Cyclone Gabrielle, ranging from $19,000 to $30,000, compared with about $7000 in Hawke’s Bay and $1200 to $3000 in Bay of Plenty. Doyle said carbon forestry was being considered by some companies because returns were higher than harvesting. However, he was concerned it did not address erosion and waterway impacts. Kohn said local and central government had a role in implementing the Emissions Trading Scheme carbon forests would trade under, and there was a shared willingness to make it work better across the region. GDC chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swan said eight harvest consents were granted from January 2025 to January 2026. Conditions before Cyclone Gabrielle addressed erosion, skid site placements and debris removal, she said. “The current conditions place greater emphasis on identifying and managing risks before harvesting begins, particularly on highly erosion-prone land and at sites where slash could be mobilised and affect waterways, downstream properties or infrastructure.” Conditions may require staged harvesting, inspections following rain events, higher-quality roads and post-harvest stability plans, she said. The number of companies choosing not to harvest in Gisborne was unavailable, but Thatcher Swan reiterated poorly maintained forests could pose a risk for communities, waterways and infrastructure. The council did not want to prevent harvesting but wanted to work with operators so environmental risks were managed, she said. Speaking for sole shareholder of Eastland Port, Trust Tairāwhiti, chief executive Doug Jones said the trust was aware of challenging market conditions and the impact on local businesses and the economy. The trust and its investment arm, Tairāwhiti Investments Limited, remained informed and focused on the longevity of investments, he said. Eastland Port chief executive Andrew Gaddum said its debarking operation was monitoring harvesting volumes, export markets and wider economic conditions, and would adapt to changing customer demand.

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Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins says she is “quite surprised at the scare campaign” around the sale of Tasmania’s Rushy Lagoon, reiterating that land will still be used for agriculture as well as forestry. Sources: The Weekly Times , Timberbiz In conversation with The Weekly Times editor James Wagstaff at News Corp Australia’s Bush Summit at Dubbo, Ms Collins said the Tasmanian government had not categorised the area, which is Tasmania’s largest farm, as prime agricultural land, instead assessing it in its “lowest categories”. “The land use and the planning around that is the state government’s, so the state government didn’t seek clearly to protect it in that sense,” she said. Rushy Lagoon was sold to the Tasmania Natural Asset Trust earlier this year – backed by investment from UK forestry and farmland investor Gresham House, global asset management group Aviva Investors and Australia’s own Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The federal government’s approval of the deal immediately sparked outcry from the farming sector, given the buyers plan to convert parts of the property to forestry and others to host renewables. The involvement of the CEFC in a foreign investment deal also prompted concern. The Opposition Leader Angus Taylor used the summit to label the conversion as “disgrace” and vowed that “it will not happen under a Coalition government. “We need to use every bit of productive agricultural land we can in this country for growing food and fibre,” he said, But Ms Collins said the $140m investment was important for northern Tasmania. “It brings some of it back into Australian hands … and means Australians will have some say in the future of Rushy Lagoon,” she said. “More broadly there have been a lot of land use tensions across the country … those tensions have always been there, and they need to be managed and managed well, and it’s primarily the (state governments) that have the powers there.”

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The New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) says that proposals to halt new forestry registrations or progressively remove forestry from the emissions trading scheme are premature and risk further undermining investor confidence. Source: Timberbiz NZIF President Adrian Loo says that the “Adrift: What future does the Emissions Trading Scheme have?” report released by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment raises legitimate questions about the balance between reducing gross emissions and removing carbon through forests. “New Zealand needs faster reductions in gross emissions, but this does not diminish the importance of carbon removals. We need both. The challenge is to design a system which recognises their different roles and provides credible incentives for each,” he said. NZIF is concerned the report’s media release presents modelled scenarios as settled outcomes. The report itself acknowledges its results are projections rather than predictions and depend heavily on assumptions about future carbon prices, planting rates and forest owner behaviour. “A model looking ahead to 2075 can help us understand possible risks, but it cannot tell us with certainty how markets, technology, landowners or governments will behave over the next 50 years. Major policy decisions should not be based on one set of modelled scenarios,” Mr Loo said. NZIF also says an important distinction is being overlooked between Government auction units and forestry units. “Government auction units are permissions to emit. Forestry units recognise carbon which forests have actually removed from the atmosphere. Treating both forms of supply as though they have the same climate effect overlooks a fundamental difference,” Mr Loo said. NZIF agrees biological carbon storage carries risks from fire, pests, disease and extreme weather. However, it says these risks should be addressed through professional forest management, monitoring, enforceable standards and appropriate financial provision. Descriptions of “vast new plantations of highly flammable, storm prone pine” are unhelpfully emotive and do not reflect the diversity or reality of modern forestry. “Forestry is not a single land use. A managed production forest, a permanent exotic carbon forest, an indigenous forest and a planned transition forest have different purposes, benefits and risks. Sound policy must distinguish between them,” Mr Loo said. “Broad descriptions of pine forests as inherently dangerous show insufficient recognition of forest management, fire planning, engineering, harvesting controls and the regulatory improvements made across the sector.” NZIF says a blanket moratorium on new forestry registrations would not simply pause the present system. It would be a significant policy intervention which could affect production forestry, farm forestry, indigenous regeneration and transition projects. It could also strand investments made in good faith under rules established by successive governments. “Foresters did not design the ETS. Landowners and investors have responded to the incentives created by government policy. They should not be blamed or retrospectively penalised for following those rules,” Mr Loo said. Forestry is a long-term investment and unnecessary changes to ETS settings will seriously erode investor confidence and will result in significant reductions in planting rates across all forest types. New Zealand does not need to face a choice between reducing emissions and growing forests. We need faster reductions at source alongside the right trees, in the right places, managed for the right purposes. “Foresters must be part of the discussion and forestry part of the solution.” Mr Loo said.

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Timber removed during roadworks in a southeast NSW forest, already at the centre of a dispute over proposed logging, was sold to help pay for the work, the Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) has confirmed. Source: About Regional Glenbog State Forest, about 45 minutes north-west of Bega, has been the focus of a community campaign over the potential effects of logging on threatened wildlife, including greater gliders and koalas. When FCNSW undertook what it described as road maintenance in January, conservationists monitoring the work recorded timber being trucked from the forest. They say at least 26 loads were removed from a 2.7-km stretch of Bemboka River and Fraxinoides roads. FCNSW maintains the work was road maintenance, but the removal and sale of the timber prompted questions about how the operation had been classified and regulated. Those concerns led Wilderness Australia and South East Forest Rescue to lodge a report titled Illegal Logging in Glenbog State Forest with the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) in early July. The report alleges the FCNSW operation was commercial logging disguised as road maintenance and may have bypassed environmental protections required under forestry or planning laws. The conservation groups say the roadside work was carried out between 13 and 22 January and involved the removal of more than 1000 trees with trunks wider than 20 centimetres. They allege clearing generally extended five to 10 metres beyond the road edge and reached between 15 and 20 metres in two places. Wilderness Australia executive director Andrew Wong said paperwork photographed at the site recorded at least 26 loads of timber. The report cited 21 truckloads, but Mr Wong said a later count of the photographed paperwork identified at least 26. FCNSW did not confirm the number of trees or truckloads involved. A spokesperson said the operation formed part of an ongoing program to grade, gravel and maintain roads across Glenbog for recreation, firefighting and forest management. “The work in January included some tree removal to enable machinery to access the road and safely carry out works, as well as removal of vegetation that had regrown on the road edge to maintain the road at a suitable width,” the spokesperson said. “Rather than mulching the removed trees onsite, as residents would often see on local roads and highways, some timber was recovered and sold to local mills.” The spokesperson said revenue from the timber helped fund road maintenance, but FCNSW did not disclose how much was raised. Mr Wong said selling the timber raised broader questions about whether the operation remained road maintenance or had become commercial forestry. “We believe it is the first case of potentially illegal logging that could be termed ‘for-profit management’,” he said. The distinction matters because commercial forestry operations must comply with the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (CIFOA), including its threatened-species protections. FCNSW said the Glenbog roadworks were completed under a roading plan approved through a Review of Environmental Factors and were confined to the previously disturbed road corridor. However, the conservation groups allege the approval was more than three years out of date, restricted the work to the road’s existing disturbance footprint and did not permit the clearing they say occurred beyond it. The report says the timber-removal operation appeared to end after 2.7 km amid strong community opposition, although the wider roading plan covered more than 90 km of roads and trails. It argues that if the same approach were applied across the roughly 51,000 km of roads within NSW state forests, it could expose about 102,000 hectares of forest to clearing outside CIFOA oversight – equivalent, it says, to around five years of all native forest logging currently conducted in NSW state forests. FCNSW said maintenance had since been completed on most of the roads and trails covered by the plan but did not say whether any further timber had been removed or sold. The corporation said work would continue as required to maintain access for recreation, fire management and other uses. Mr Wong said documents obtained through a government information access request indicated the machinery used for the roadwork had been brought into Glenbog for the separately proposed logging operation known as 2312A–2315A. FCNSW did not say whether the roadwork prepared access for that operation or provide its current status. Mr Wong said paperwork accompanying the timber described the operation as “thinning”, which the report identifies as a harvesting activity normally regulated under the CIFOA. The report also summarises legal advice obtained from the Environmental Defenders Office that the operation should have been regulated under forestry law. The advice says that even under the planning framework used by FCNSW, planning law was likely breached and biodiversity legislation may also have been breached. Those legal arguments have not been tested or accepted by the EPA. The report further alleges that the clearing reached the boundary of South East Forest National Park and included a white ash forest, recently listed as a nationally endangered ecological community. It also raises concerns about the operation’s potential effects on surrounding wildlife habitat. A search by the conservation groups of the NSW Government’s BioNet database identified records of 25 threatened species in Glenbog, including greater gliders and koalas. The report identifies 12 greater glider den trees within about 85 metres of the clearing, including nine within 50 metres. One was recorded in BioNet a year before the operation and was about 13 metres from the clearing. Mr Wong said a greater glider search and broader habitat search would have been required had the work been treated as forestry, but alleged neither was conducted. FCNSW did not respond to questions about which threatened-species surveys were required or completed, or whether trees were removed within 50 metres of known greater glider dens. The EPA confirmed it was aware of community concerns and was assessing information relating to the January operation. It has not said whether it inspected the site or when its assessment is expected to be completed. “As this assessment is ongoing, it is inappropriate […]

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Australia’s Syncorana Group and Steco Centar from Bosnia and Herzegovina have signed a landmark Joint Venture Agreement to establish Steco (Australia) Pty Ltd, a new company that will introduce high-quality prefabricated homes in Australia and Oceania. Source: Timberbiz The partnership combines Syncorana’s strategic vision for Indigenous economic development including housing manufacture and building and workforce training with Steco’s thirty years of experience in the design and manufacture of prefabricated housing systems. Syncorana is an Australian company focused on developing innovative housing, advanced manufacturing, early childhood education, workforce training and artificial intelligence solutions. Steco Centar is a Bosnia and Herzegovina-based manufacturer of prefabricated building systems with extensive experience in the design, engineering and manufacture of innovative construction technologies for domestic The joint venture represents a significant step towards establishing an advanced manufacturing facility capable of supporting Australia’s growing demand for affordable, sustainable and high-quality housing solutions. The new facility is designed to create highly skilled jobs, strengthen sovereign manufacturing capability and support long-term industry growth. Under the agreement, the parties intend to establish a local manufacturing operation at an estimated cost of around $150 million capable of scaling to produce three thousand prefabricated homes per annum using advanced European manufacturing technology adapted to Australian standards and market requirements. A distinguishing feature of the proposed Australian facility will be the inclusion of Syncorana’s registered training organisation – Living Planit/Dreamtime Institute of Training and Management – designed to become a national centre of training excellence for prefabricated construction, advanced manufacturing and modern building techniques. The integrated training facility is intended to support the development of a highly skilled Indigenous and non-Indigenous workforce capable of manufacturing, assembling and installing prefabricated building systems for the Australian market. The venture will seek to supply a broad range of construction markets including residential housing, Indigenous affordable and social housing, early childhood learning and aged care centres, workforce accommodation and commercial developments. It complements Syncorana’s Indigenous housing strategy planned for implementation via its national network of Indigenous partnerships. Steco also intends to collaborate with strategic partners, government, institutional investors, developers and builders and community housing providers to expand the use of prefabricated construction systems throughout Oceania. This initiative will assist in addressing Australia’s housing supply challenges while contributing to national economic development and increasing participation by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the construction and manufacturing sectors. “The joint venture marks a defining milestone in the evolution of Syncorana,” Carlton Taya, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Syncorana Group, said. “Our partnership with Steco Centar brings together proven international manufacturing and building expertise with an Australian vision to transform the way homes are built. “Australia is facing one of the most significant housing supply challenges in its history. Through this joint venture we intend to establish advanced manufacturing capability that can deliver high-quality prefabricated housing faster, more efficiently and at scale,” Mr Taya said. “Importantly, this partnership is about much more than manufacturing. It is about creating skilled jobs, supporting Indigenous economic participation, developing the next generation of workers through our training centre of excellence, and using technology and artificial intelligence to build a smarter and more sustainable housing industry. “Importantly, this initiative will provide meaningful training and employment pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, apprentices, school leavers, veterans and workers seeking to transition into advanced manufacturing and modern construction.” “We are delighted to be partnering with Steco Centar, a world leader in prefabricated housing manufacture and look forward to building a long-term business that delivers value for our shareholders, customers, government partners and Indigenous communities across Australia.” Steco Centar chairman Milenko Stevanović said his company had spent many years developing innovative building technologies and manufacturing systems. “We believe Australia represents an exciting opportunity to apply our experience to one of the world’s most dynamic housing markets,” he said. “Syncorana shares our commitment to quality, innovation and long-term growth. Together we intend to combine European engineering expertise with Australian manufacturing capability to deliver world-class housing solutions. “We are delighted that our Australian partnership will include a dedicated training centre where our engineering knowledge and manufacturing systems can be transferred to a new generation of Australian professionals.” “By integrating education with manufacturing, we will help ensure that Australian workers are trained to the highest international standards while supporting the long-term success of the joint venture.” “We look forward to working closely with the Syncorana team and contributing our technical knowledge, manufacturing systems and experience to the success of this important venture.”

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NSW has the opportunity to become Australia’s benchmark for construction productivity and project delivery, but achieving that will require changes to procurement, risk allocation and the way government and industry work together, delegates at Foundations and Frontiers 2026 heard. Source: Timberbiz Addressing the Australian Constructors Association’s (ACA) flagship industry forum in Sydney yesterday, NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey outlined his vision for improving project delivery, strengthening industry capability and ensuring taxpayers receive greater value from the state’s significant infrastructure investment program. The Treasurer’s address followed a challenge from industry leaders that while NSW is one of Australia’s largest construction markets, it should also aspire to be one of the nation’s most attractive places to deliver major projects. The challenge was taken up by NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, who outlined the NSW Government’s vision for improving project delivery, strengthening industry capability and ensuring taxpayers receive greater value from the state’s significant infrastructure investment program. Sending a message to contractors, the Treasurer said government is looking for innovation that can be scaled and repeated across projects, not demonstrated once and set aside. “Government is the construction sector’s largest client. That gives us power, but it also gives us responsibilities. We must develop projects properly before taking them to market. We must be clearer about scope, more realistic about risk and more consistent in our requirements,” said Mr Mookhey. “We must engage industry earlier, make decisions faster and resolve genuine claims without allowing every issue to become an adversarial contest. We must look beyond the lowest apparent tender price and ask whether a bid is credible, deliverable and represents value over the full life of the asset. “For too long, an unhealthy model took hold in parts of the construction industry. Contractors bid low to win the project. The tender price became the opening offer. Once construction began, claims, variations and renegotiations became the route back to profitability.” In setting a vision for the industry the industry, the Treasurer pointed to the role of industrialisation and modern methods of construction in driving the change. “We want greater standardisation, more modern methods of construction and innovation that can be repeated across projects—not demonstrated once and then forgotten,” said Mr Mookhey. The Treasurer later joined ACA President Annabel Crookes for a fireside discussion examining the role government, contractors and project owners must play in improving productivity and delivering better project outcomes. “Genuine partnership starts well before contracts are signed. It means bringing industry in early to help shape the problem, being transparent about the pipeline and creating the conditions for government and contractors to solve challenges together before they become disputes,” said Ms Crookes. “If we want to lift productivity, procurement has to be shorter, smarter and more focused on outcomes. The opportunity is to spend less time in extended, duplicative competitive processes and more time in genuine development phases where the right people are around the table early.” “The next phase of NSW infrastructure investment gives us a real opportunity to think differently about how work is packaged, sequenced and delivered. “Where the pipeline includes repeatable assets or similar scopes, we should be looking for ways to standardise, build momentum and give industry the confidence to invest in industrialised construction, offsite manufacture and digital delivery.” ACA CEO Peter Colacino said improving productivity had become one of Australia’s most important economic challenges. “The discussion today reinforced that productivity is no longer simply a construction issue. It’s a cost-of-living issue, a housing issue, and an economic issue,” said Mr Colacino. Foundations and Frontiers 2026 has brought together more than 450 leaders from construction, government, consulting and the supply chain under the theme Smarter. Stronger. Together. The forum focuses on identifying practical reforms and proven approaches that can improve productivity and lift project delivery performance across Australia.

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August, the peak of the ski season and last month in our winter. There is a lure that spring is only just around the bend as lambs start emerging in paddocks and daffodils pop up all over the place. Sometimes, however, this can be a false sense of security as September can prove to be one of the wettest and windiest months on the calendar which can, in turn, create a few issues for foresters with windthrow and infrastructure damage. NIWA expects an 80% chance that El Nino will reach or exceed strong intensity by the end of September which will likely result in unusually windy conditions. This is great for drying things out but not so great for keeping trees vertical. We have seen considerable wind damage over the past few years, starting with Gabrielle in 2023 and latterly with the 2025 events in the Nelson Tasman region and 2026 event in the Southern north island. This has resulted in an out-of-cycle increase in harvest volumes in these regions and pushed supply into markets when it was not necessarily needed. While these salvage operations have wound down in the North Island, the Nelson region still has some distance to go. Even though the market has not needed the extra slugs of volume resulting from the salvage operations, there has been a reasonable balance in terms of supply and demand which has kept prices on a relatively even keel for the past 12 months. While we saw a 7% drop in June; July and August have seen a rebound back above the 12-month average with A Grade 3.9m at around $125/JAS in North Island ports and around $115/JAS in South Island ports. Economic data out of China isn’t painting a rosy picture with the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) dropping to 49.2 from 50.3 in June indicating a softening in manufacturing activity. Probably nothing to see here as July and August are historically fizzers for PMI data. It is important to note, however, that the quarter 2 economic growth rate was the lowest in three years at 4.3% and, when combined with increased in tech exports and decreased construction activity, wood-based products are probably fearing worse than reported. On the bright side, in market log inventories have dropped slightly to around 2.47 million cubic metres with daily offtake a shade under 60,000 cubic metres per day. NZ supply has been somewhat subdued with weather issues and problems berthing vessels in Gisborne due to successive long wave events. These events are especially frequent during southerly conditions and result in vessels being held at anchor and unable to load. This creates a backlog as the port fills quickly and stock begins to build in the forest which takes time to clear. Shipping costs continue to be problematic with the Iran conflict keeping costs over $US40/JAS. As long as the US and Iran continue their Mexican standoff it’s unlikely that we’ll see any reductions in the near term. It’s a great time to be a fuel company with many booking record windfalls and profits in the double to quadruple range. To put it into context, the eight major fuel companies booked more than $US90 billion in profits in the 3 months following the war. Nothing like a bit of profiteering at the expense of others in a time of global crisis. India didn’t want China to feel lonely in the PMI stats game and have recorded their lowest result in five years. While still above 50 (so indicating expansion), the July number of 53.5 is well back from June. While export orders grew at the fastest pace since April, job hires were at the lowest point in almost 30 months. Vessel arrivals into India are currently down around 50% on July with around six vessels due to berth at Kandla Port. Berthing in India is slow and complicated and recent damage to one of the berths has made this process more difficult. The rainy season has flooded many parts of North, West and central India which has in turn dropped radiata lumber demand by around 50%. Containers of logs have started turning up at Tuticorin Port from South Africa, USA, Australia and NZ. As there are no processing facilities near this port, much of the volume must be trucked hundreds of kilometres to sawmills which adds to cost and complexity. There was a bit of excitement in the carbon game a few weeks back when the volume of the NZU’s available for sale dwindled creating a buyer flurry that saw 700,000 units sold in a day and sale prices break through $55/NZU. This in turn got the traders’ phones going and this available sale volume was quickly replaced as participants tried to capitalize on the goldrush. As with any flurry, this quickly settled down to business as usual without any significant price reaction. The domestic market continues to show green shoots as log supply tightens and sawmill inventories recede. Pruned especially is in high demand and although this is supply related, it does show the advantage of pruning your forest. Pruned log prices continue to remain buoyant, and some sawmills are happy to help cover the additional cartage component to get supply from out of their traditional region. RMA minister Chris Bishop has put on his big boy pants and blocked Gisborne District Councils’ NZ$600M plan to force landowners (farmers and foresters) to transition to permanent vegetation cover. This has created the expected level of vitriol from proponents of the plan, many of whom seem hellbent on turning the East Coast into an economic and social backwater. This is the classic case of being careful what you wish for as we are already seeing significant forest related processing investment walk away from the region due to long term supply insecurity. So, how will the rest of the year play out? If you were a betting person, you’d probably put your casino chips on increased export prices heading into the pointy end of the year. […]

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