Annual Timber Harvest

2007 – 2008 Harvest summary from private forests

Each year Private Forests Tasmania compiles Australia’s only authoritative harvest summary from private forests.

The annual data collation of major log products harvested from private forests was expedited with the co-operation of the processors. The information is provided to PFT on the basis that it will be aggregated, and strict confidentiality of the raw data is guaranteed and adhered to.

The private forest harvest in 2007 – 2008 was 2,866,002 tonnes, which accounted for approximately 42.5% of total timber production in Tasmania during that period, and is slightly higher than the 2006 – 2007 result.

The private plantation hardwood harvest in 2007 – 2008 was 1,679,488 tonnes, which accounted for approximately 63% of total  plantation hardwood timber production during the period.

Comments for 2007– 2008 data

1. Information wassourced from over 45 processors throughout the State.
2. Data has been aggregated to maintain the confidentiality of individuals’ information.
3. Fuelwood data is not included because of the difficulty of obtaining enough data from the many producers.
4. There has been an increase in the total harvest of both native forest ans plantations for all foerst wood products.
5. Native forest products made up about 41% of private wood harvest.
6. Hardwood plantation products made up about 41% of the private wood harvest.
7. Softwood plantation products made up about 20% of the private wood harvest.
8. Although the total harvest of private forest increased this year, the percentage of sawlog, veneer and ply log dropped slightly to 9.4%.

The expansion in the domestic market and an improvement in the international woodchip market have meant a significant increase in the total private native forest harvest.  Forest harvesting on the private forest estate is largely ingtegrated with the harvest of sawlog and pulpwood undertaken at the same time. 

An increase in the native hardwood sawlog, veneer and ply log harvest of some 3,200 tonnes has reversed the declining trend of production for the private forest estate over the past three years.

There was an increase in the harvest of plantation softwood sawlogs from the private forest estate of some 5,000 tonnes and an increase in the harvest of softwood plantation pulpwood of some 225,000 tonnes mainly due to domestic processing.

In 2007-2008 the plantation forest harvest exceeded the volume harvested from native forest.  The harvest from plantation forests accounted for 58.6% of the total harvest from private forest estate while the harvest from the hardwood plantation forests accounted for 39% of the total harvest from private forests in the same period. 

In 2007-2008 the harvest of plantation hardwood pulpwood was marginally less than half of the total hardwood pulpwood harvest from the private forest estate.