Australian hardwoods—including blackbutt, spotted gum, and Sydney blue gum—long prized for architectural cladding and floorboards have more than doubled with private ‘tree farmers’ capitalising on a rush for high-quality timbers in the wake of the WA government’s decision earlier this year to close the native forest industry.
“The prices that you can get for high-value sawlogs these days is not just a reflection of supply, but also the demand for high-value logs,” said Geoff North, a farmer who has been growing native trees on his property for over three decades. Speaking to ABC News, Mr North “fell in love with tree farming and realised down the track that we have plenty of benefits.”
“The best way to fight climate change is to basically put carbon pumps into the land, which is what trees are.”
Geoff North on the value of tree farms on private lands.
However, while Mr North is part of a handful of privately owned forests and plantations experiencing increased demand – which has seen timber prices double over the past 11 months, far more have been squeezed out due to the overall decline in available wood.
According to Adele Farina, a former member of the WA Labor Party and current CEO of the WA Forest Industries Federation, all mills statewide have been impacted by the Mark McGowan / Roger Cook decision to close native forestry.
Still, some mills are limping on by processing small volumes of timber from forest thinning programs: “There has definitely been an impact; mills are struggling to find large logs, but some is tricking through,” Ms Farina said. “Most of it is small diameter small logs that will end up as firewood.”
And whilst contracts awarded by the Cook government to thin trees around mine sites provide some relief, customers are beginning to import foreign timbers (from Asia—which have similar qualities to jarrah) to fill orders.
“There are people who are desperate; they would pay good money for those (domestic) logs,” said Alan Basada, a timber broker who buys and sells milled hardwood in the mining and maritime industry. “I’ve got lots of orders to fill, but I can’t because I don’t have the logs.”
- To learn more about the WA government’s decision to close native forests, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.
