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Forestry and Wood Processing

Whangarei District has around 35,000 hectares of exotic forest wood plantations.

Forest ownership is diverse and ranges from large corporate forestry companies to individual woodlot owners. The bulk of the resource is owned by corporate foresters. Hancock Forest Management is the single largest manager/owner. Other corporate investors in the area include Global Forest Partners LP, Rayonier New Zealand and Evergreen. There are also areas owned by the Northland Regional Council, the Whangarei District Council and Taitokerau Forestry. Over 80% of plantations are in Pinus Radiata with the remainder in eucalypts, arcacia hardwoods and other species.

There are over 1000 people employed in the forestry industry in the District. The majority are employed in first stage processing including logging, saw-milling, wood-chipping and plywood and veneer manufacture. The sawmills in the District produce over 100,000 cubic metres of sawn timber annually. The sawn timber output of the District is increasing annually.

The deep water port at Marsden Point, Whangarei provides an advantage to the region. NorthPort has built a facility at Marsden Point primarily to handle exports of logs and timber products. Some major industries are developing around NorthPort. Carter Holt Harvey has established a laminated veneer lumber (LVL) plant that mainly exports LVL for structural construction, concrete formwork and scaffolding. There is a major sawmill near Port Whangarei which was recently purchased by Carter Holt Harvey. Marasumi, a Marubeni Corporation subsidiary, has a chip mill at Portland.

Radiata pine is a general-purpose wood suitable for a wide range of end uses including structural timber, packaging, plywood and veneer, furniture, joinery, posts and poles, reconstituted panel products, and pulp and paper.

Recent years have seen some difficult trading conditions for woodprocessors – sawmillers, remanufacturers, timber treatment plants - but Whangarei processors have maintained steady trading levels, many continue to look forward to increasing processing volumes, expect to employ more staff and increase their turnover.

Key advantages the area enjoys are; the high basic density of Northland wood, a large volume of uncommitted wood available for processing, availability of labour, an established core of support trades eg: engineering, and a cohesive group of competitive but supportive industry representatives that meet regularly to address challenges these industries face.

Some of the challenges facing the industry include foreign exchange rates; the availability of trained, skilled employees; roading infrastructure; the security and cost of energy; resource consent processes and trade barriers (both tariff and non-tariff).

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