Now into its third year of harvesting, around 120,000 tonnes oflogs are being cut from these forests each year, on a 15 yearcycle. This is expected to double before 2011.

    All are presently being processed by Southwood Export Ltd, NewZealand’s largest Eucalyptus wood producer, into woodchip byits chip mill at Awarua in Invercargill, and exported from itsfacility at Bluff.

    That equates to six shipments a year to Japan, and is expected togrow.

    Local forestry company SouthWood Export Ltd had encouraged OjiPaper to reinvest in forestry in Southland and in 1992 theSouthland Plantation Forest Company of NZ Ltd (SPFL) was formed,with Oji the majority shareholder, alongside Fuji Xerox OfficeSupplies and Office Equipment, and the Itochu Corporation.

    SPFL plantings added to that of Southwood Export Ltd’sinitial eucalyptus forest establishment in 1987. Together with athird company Hardwood Forests Ltd, they combined have a resourceof over 12,000 hectares of eucalypt forests in Southland.

    Eucalyptus fibre is shorter than other New Zealand forest treespecies, and its pulp is therefore well-suited for turning intofiner high quality writing and printing papers.

    And because Eucalyptus is a sustainable hardwood, it’spredicted global interest will grow in these renewable andecologically acceptable plantations in Southland, as the supply ofhardwood timbers from natural forests reduce, particularly thetropical timbers.

    This is good news for Southland, given it’s a particularlygood part of the world for growing this species of tree, withfertile, free-draining soils, few health problems, and a climatethat encourages vigorous growth.

    Southwood General Manager Graeme Manley also predicts other futureopportunities in bio energy to arise from the global drive forenvironmental sustainability.

    “Together, this equates to a substantial and on-goingcontribution to the Southland economy.”

    While all of the wood continues to be exported as woodchip,alternative markets are always being examined. Eucalyptus logs havebeen trialled as veneer, and some have also been exported assawlogs to Korea.

    Almost half of New Zealand’s eucalyptus tree plantations arein Southland. Total plantings are estimated at 13 600 hectares,around six percent of all the plantation trees grow in Otago andSouthland.

    These forests are small and scattered across the lower foothills ofSouthland, rather than only one locality, so as not to impact onexisting rural infrastructure in any particular area.

    These areas are being re-established into forest after harvesting,currently at around 300 hectares a year, which makes it asustainable resource. The planting rate is 900 stems per hectare.

    All the Eucalyptus Nitens seedlings are grown in local nurseriesfrom improved seed sourced from SPFL’s own seed orchard.

    Harvesting and log cartage are all by local contractors.

    About Southwood Export Ltd

    Southwood started as Wood Export Tokanui in 1989, originallychipping and exporting beech and kamahi. Eucalyptus was chosen as areplacement species for long-term sustainability, given ForestService species trials had demonstrated it had proven growthperformance in Southland. Annual Eucalyptus plantings started 21years ago, initially with joint ventures with Maori owners andprivate land owners.

    Southwood Export Ltd was actively encouraging private investment inEucalypt Forestry and in 1991 floated a public unlisted companyHardwood Forests Ltd to give private investors an opportunity toinvest in a short rotation (15 years) forestry crop.

    Today it is the biggest Eucalyptus producer in New Zealand,harvesting and exporting year round.

    About Oji paper

    Oji Paper was founded in 1873, and operates more than 20 millsthroughout Japan that produce a variety of paper products,including printing and writing papers and corrugated board andboxboard. The company also makes paper-based containers, plastics,thermal papers, and disposable diapers. Oji Paper also has forestryand real estate operations with more than 120 subsidiaries andaffiliates worldwide, including operations in the Americas, theAsia/Pacific region, and Europe.

    The Southern Wood Council Inc was set up in 2001 to promote,encourage and coordinate the sustainable economic development ofthe forest products industry in Otago and Southland. One of a fewtruly independent groups of its type in New Zealand, i_t includesall the major forest owners within the region (ownership ormanagement of over 140,000 hectares of production forests with anannual harvest of over 1.2 million m³ of wood), the largerwood processing and manufacturing companies, the port authoritiesand each of the three economic development agencies from localcouncils. http://www.southernwoodcouncil.co.nz

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