Australian forest and wood products statistics March and June quarters 2013

Australian forest and wood products statistics March and June quarters 2013 Research by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences NOVEMBER 2013

Commonwealth of Australia 2013 Ownership of intellectual property rights Unless otherwise noted, copyright (and any other intellectual property rights, if any) in this publication is owned by the Commonwealth of Australia (referred to as the Commonwealth). Creative Commons licence All material in this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence, save for content supplied by third parties, logos and the Commonwealth Coat of Arms. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence is a standard form licence agreement that allows you to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt this publication provided you attribute the work. A summary of the licence terms is available from creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ au/deed.en. The full licence terms are available from creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/legalcode. This publication (and any material sourced from it) should be attributed as ABARES 2013, Australian forest and wood products statistics, March and June quarters 2013, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra, November. CC BY 3.0. Cataloguing data ABARES 2013, Australian forest and wood products statistics, March and June quarters 2013, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra, November. ISSN 1449 1850 ISBN 978-1-74323-159-3 ABARES project 115062/43373 Internet, March and June quarters 2013 is available at daff.gov.au/abares/publications. Contact Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) Postal address GPO Box 1563 Canberra ACT 2601 Switchboard +61 2 6272 2010 Facsimile +61 2 6272 2001 Email info.abares@daff.gov.au Web daff.gov.au/abares Inquiries about the licence and any use of this document should be sent to copyright@daff.gov.au. The Australian Government acting through the Department of Agriculture, represented by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, has exercised due care and skill in preparing and compiling the information and data in this publication. Notwithstanding, the Department of Agriculture, ABARES, its employees and advisers disclaim all liability, including liability for negligence, for any loss, damage, injury, expense or cost incurred by any person as a result of accessing, using or relying upon any of the information or data in this publication to the maximum extent permitted by law. Notice The detailed statistical tables can only be viewed in Excel workbooks that are linked in Appendix A and are available on the ABARES website. Acknowledgments This report was prepared by the ABARES Forest Economics section. ABARES acknowledges co-funding for production of this report by Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) and the Department of Agriculture.

Contents Overview 1 Imports of wood products 1 Exports of wood products 3 Illegal logging regulation: the affected community 5 References 6 Appendixes A, detailed tables 7 Figures 1 Value of wood product imports, 2003 04 to 2012 13 2 2 Value of paper and paperboard imports, 2003 04 to 2012 13 2 3 Value of wood product exports, 2003 04 to 2012 13 4 4 Value of paper and paperboard exports, 2003 04 to 2012 13 5 ABARES iii

Overview This issue of (AFWPS) includes updated Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) trade data for the March and June quarters of 2013. In 2012 13 the value of wood product imports fell by 2.0 per cent and exports fell by 8.3 per cent. Updates for housing and employment data are also included. Housing rebounded, rising from around 145 000 dwelling unit commencements in 2011 12 to around 160 000 in 2012 13. The largest increases were in Western Australia and New South Wales. Total employment in forestry and logging and in wood product manufacturing industries decreased, from around 66 700 in 2011 12 to around 64 000 in 2012 13. This issue of the AFWPS includes a summary of the recently released ABARES report Illegal logging regulation: the affected community (Gupta & Hug 2013). The report analyses imports of regulated timber products and characteristics of importers, brokers, suppliers and domestic processors affected by the Illegal Logging Prohibition Act Amendment Regulation 2013. Imports of wood products Following a 4.8 per cent decline in the previous financial year, the value of wood product imports fell by a further 2 per cent to $4.1 billion in 2012 13. While the value of paper and paperboard imports remained unchanged at around $2 billion, the value of most other wood product imports decreased. The value of panels and miscellaneous forest products declined slightly and the value of sawnwood and other wood products fell more sharply (Figure 1). Although the value of total paper and paperboard imports remained unchanged in 2012 13, significant changes were recorded for particular grades of paper. Domestic production of household and sanitary paper (tissue paper) has decreased in recent years (IndustryEdge 2013). At the same time, volume and value of tissue paper imports have increased steadily since 2007 08, showing particularly large growth in 2012 13; volume increased by around 35 per cent and value by around 31 per cent in 2012 13 compared with 2011 12. This increase in tissue paper (and packaging and industrial paper) imports completely offset a decline in imports of newsprint and printing and writing (the largest paper import) grades of paper in 2012 13 (Figure 2). ABARES 1

Overview FIGURE 1 Value of wood product imports, 2003 04 to 2012 13 2500 2000 1500 Other Paper and paperboard Miscellaneous forest products Sawnwood Wood-based panels 1000 500 $m 2003 04 2004 05 2005 06 2006 07 2007 08 2008 09 2009 10 2010 11 2011 12 2012 13 Note: Other includes paper manufactures, pulp, recovered paper, woodchips and roundwood. Miscellaneous forest products include packing cases, frames, oils and mouldings. Source: ABARES FIGURE 2 Value of paper and paperboard imports, 2003 04 to 2012 13 1500 1200 Printing and writing Packaging and industrial Newsprint Household and sanitary 900 600 300 $m 2003 04 2004 05 2005 06 2006 07 2007 08 2008 09 2009 10 2010 11 2011 12 2012 13 Source: ABARES 2 ABARES

Overview The value of imported pulp decreased in 2012 13 by nearly 6 per cent and has decreased consistently each year over the past five years. Overall, the volume of imported pulp has declined by around 32 per cent since 2007 08, partly reflecting closure of paper mills in Australia that were using imported pulp (ABARES 2012). However, since the closure in 2011 of the Kimberly-Clarke Australia pulp mill in Tantanoola in South Australia, the volume of imported pulp has increased in 2012 13 to meet domestic paper production needs. The value of imported paper manufactures (includes other paper articles that have had some further processing) peaked at around $590 million in 2008 09. Since then imports have declined, decreasing by 8.3 per cent from $486 million in 2011 12 to $446 million in 2012 13. The volume and value of sawnwood imports fell by 4.1 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively in 2012 13. Small increases in sawnwood imports to Australia from Lithuania, Chile and Canada were offset by declines in imports from major suppliers including New Zealand, the United States and Malaysia. The largest decrease in volume was in dressed softwood sawnwood imports. However, as these are primarily used for structural purposes, the rebound in housing construction activity in 2012 13 is expected to increase sawnwood consumption and may lead to an increase in imports in the next financial year. Commencement of dwelling units rose from around 145 000 in 2011 12 to 160 000 in 2012 13. Despite increasing over the previous five years, the volume of wood-based panel imports decreased by 6.9 per cent in 2012 13. This was primarily driven by lower imports from New Zealand (down by about 39 per cent), Australia s second largest source for wood-based panel imports. By contrast, panel import volumes from China (the world s largest producer and exporter of wood-based panels) increased by about 8 per cent, accounting for around 23 per cent of total panel imports to Australia in 2012 13. The value of imports of miscellaneous forest products, primarily sourced from China, decreased slightly by 0.9 per cent in 2012 13 but remains above $700 million for the second consecutive year. These products include packing cases, frames, oils and mouldings. Exports of wood products Following a 10 per cent decline in the previous financial year, exports of wood products decreased by 8.3 per cent to $2 billion in 2012 13. Continuing the trend from last year, the decrease in value of exports was driven primarily by a substantial reduction in woodchip exports. Declines in export value were also evident in most other major Australian wood product exports (Figure 3), particularly wood-based panels (down by about 39 per cent) and roundwood (down by about 12 per cent). In 2012 13 exports of paper and paperboard overtook woodchip exports to become the largest wood product export (by value) from Australia (Figure 3). ABARES 3

Overview FIGURE 3 Value of wood product exports, 2003 04 to 2012 13 1200 1000 800 600 Other Woodchips Paper and paperboard Wood-based panels Roundwood Sawnwood Recovered paper 400 200 $m 2003 04 2004 05 2005 06 2006 07 2007 08 2008 09 2009 10 2010 11 2011 12 2012 13 Note: Other includes railway sleepers, paper manufactures, pulp and miscellaneous forest products. Source: ABARES The total value of woodchip exports decreased by 16 per cent, from $729 million in 2011 12 to $611 million in 2012 13. This was primarily driven by reductions in the volume and value of hardwood woodchip exports. Over the last five years, the total value of hardwood woodchip exports has decreased by 42 per cent. In 2012 13 the volume of hardwood woodchip exports decreased by 8.2 per cent to 3.1 million bone dry tonnes (bdt) and average unit value fell by 7.6 per cent to $167 per bdt. Although all state-based woodchip export data became confidential in May 2013, comparing the first three quarters of the 2012 13 financial year with the same period in 2011 12 shows that hardwood woodchip export volumes declined in all states, particularly in Tasmania (down by 30 per cent) and New South Wales (down by 22 per cent). The volume and value of softwood woodchip exports also decreased in 2012 13, with the average unit value falling by 14 per cent to $134 per bdt. This trend in Australian woodchip exports may reflect competitive conditions in global woodchip markets. Although demand for woodchips from China and other emerging economies has risen, driven by increased paper production overseas, hardwood plantation forests in Asia and Latin America provide an important source of hardwood woodchips and offer a competitive substitute for Australian woodchips. Exports of wood-based panels from Australia decreased in 2012 13, primarily driven by reductions in exports of veneer products (down by more than 50 per cent in value terms). This may in part be due to reduced production at Ta Ann s veneer mills in Tasmania. Exports of medium density fibreboard also fell in 2012 13. Although the value of roundwood exports peaked in 2010 11, the volume of roundwood exports reached an all-time high of 1.8 million cubic metres in 2011 12. From this peak, volume of roundwood exports decreased by 15.9 per cent to 1.5 million cubic metres in 2012 13. This decrease in volume was largely due to reduced roundwood exports to China which accounts for around 86 per cent of Australia s total roundwood export volume. 4 ABARES

Overview The value of paper and paperboard exports decreased marginally in 2012 13, by 0.6 per cent to around $713 million. The value of paper and paperboard exports remained above $700 million for the third consecutive year following an all-time high of $747 million in 2010 11. In terms of value, paper and paperboard exports are now the major wood product export from Australia, accounting for around 35 per cent of total wood product export value in 2012 13. The slight decrease in value of paper exports was primarily driven by reduced exports of household and sanitary paper (Figure 4), reflecting reduced domestic production of this grade of paper. In 2012 13 the volume and value of newsprint exports more than doubled. The value of packaging paper exports also increased marginally to remain above $500 million for the third consecutive year (Figure 4). FIGURE 4 Value of paper and paperboard exports, 2003 04 to 2012 13 600 500 Packaging and industrial Printing and writing Household and sanitary Newsprint 400 300 200 100 $m 2003 04 2004 05 2005 06 2006 07 2007 08 2008 09 2009 10 2010 11 2011 12 2012 13 Source: ABARES Illegal logging regulation: the affected community Illegal logging regulation: the affected community (Gupta & Hug 2013) analyses imports of timber products to Australia in 2011 and 2012 to inform the compliance framework for the Illegal Logging Prohibition Act Amendment Regulation 2013. Expanding on research by Gupta and colleagues (2012), the analysis establishes a baseline of timber imports and characteristics of importers as well as brokers and import suppliers who together with domestic processors will form the community affected by the illegal logging regulation. Trade flows were also investigated to provide a greater understanding of the trade profiles of primary source countries, which will assist in developing country specific guidance for the affected community. In addition, the locations of importers and brokers in Australia were estimated using postcodes recorded in business addresses reported in Customs declaration forms, to inform potential outreach and educational programs under the illegal logging regulation. Had the regulation been in place in 2012, 17 254 importers, 452 brokers and 468 domestic processors located in Australia would have been affected, as would 25 805 suppliers based around the world. Around 184 000 consignments, worth $5.78 billion, were imported to Australia in 2012 and met the criteria described in the regulation (Gupta & Hug 2013). ABARES 5

References ABARES 2012,, September and December quarters 2011, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra. Gupta, M & Hug, B 2013, Illegal logging regulation: the affected community, ABARES report to client prepared for the Department of Agriculture, Canberra, October, available at daff.gov.au/abares/publications. Gupta, M, Davey, S, Townsend, P & Cunningham, D 2012, Illegal logging regulations: analysis of Australia s timber imports in 2007 and 2010, ABARES report to client prepared for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Canberra, November. IndustryEdge 2013, Tissue laundering: the emerging risk of tissue product imports, IndustryEdge, Hobart, February. 6 ABARES

Appendix A Australian forest and wood products statistics, detailed tables AFWPS summary tables (Click to download Excel data) 1 Overview of the Australian forest industry Resource base 2 Land areas, by vegetation cover, 2008 3 Native forest areas, by forest type, ownership and state, 2008 4 Plantation areas, by type and state 5 Plantation establishment, by type and state Logs 6 Logs harvested, by log type 7 Gross value of logs harvested 8a 8b 8c Volume of logs harvested, by state and forest type Value of logs harvested, by state Log volume, by state and type 9 Log price indexes, by log type 10 Estimated logs consumed Wood products 11 Production annual 12 Sawnwood production, by state 13 Sales and service income in forest product industries 14 Industry value added in forest product industries 15 Wages and salaries in forest product industries 16a 16b Employment in forest product industries (Labour Force survey) Employment in forest product industries (Australian Industry survey) ABARES 7

, detailed tables 17 Capital expenditure in forest product industries 18 Disposal of assets in forest product industries 19 Selected price indexes 20 Apparent consumption, annual 21 Dwelling units commenced 22 Recovered paper 23 Imports 24 Exports 25 Imports from selected countries 26 Exports to selected countries 27 Selected trade unit values 28 Imports of secondary wood products, by source 29 Exports of secondary wood products, by destination AFWPS imports quarterly (Click to download Excel data) 30 Imports of wood products 31 Imports selected unit values 32 Imports from selected countries 33 Imports of sawnwood, summary 34 Imports of roughsawn softwood sawnwood 35 Imports of roughsawn hardwood sawnwood 36 Total imports of roughsawn sawnwood 37 Imports of dressed softwood sawnwood 38 Imports of dressed hardwood sawnwood 39 Total imports of dressed sawnwood 40 Imports of miscellaneous forest products 41 Imports of veneers 42 Imports of plywood, by type 43 Imports of plywood continued 44 Imports of board products, by type 45 Imports of paper and paperboard, by type 46 Total imports of paper and paperboard 47 Imports of paper manufactures 48 Imports of recovered paper 49 Imports of pulp 50 Imports of secondary wood products 8 ABARES

, detailed tables AFWPS exports quarterly (Click to download Excel data) 51 Exports of wood products 52 Exports selected unit values 53 Exports of sawnwood, summary 54 Exports of softwood sawnwood 55 Exports of hardwood sawnwood 56 Exports of roundwood 57 Exports of railway sleepers 58 Exports of miscellaneous forest products 59 Exports of veneers 60 Exports of plywood 61 Exports of board products 62 Exports of paper and paperboard 63 Exports of paper manufactures 64 Exports of recovered paper 65 Exports of pulp 66 Exports of woodchips 67 Exports of secondary wood products ABARES 9

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