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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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