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136 Business View Australia - January-February 2016
MANUFA
Role of the AFPA in
ensuring adequate fibre
supply
The forest products industry is de-
pendent to a great extent on the
supply of logs and fibre, which is a
basic raw material used to produce
timber and paper. It is essential that
adequate supplies are available to
facilitate economies of scale in the
manufacturing process and for the
future expansion of the industry.
Australia has developed a world-
class paper industry by using recov-
ered fibre, imported pulp, managed
natural forests and wood from tree
plantations. The bulk of raw material
from tree plantations has been in the
form of thinnings or pulpwood while
sawlogs from these plantations have
been used to produce timber.
Unfortunately, there has been min-
imal investment in new plantations
since the early 1990s. The govern-
ment has withdrawn its direct incen-
tive policies to promote long-term in-
vestments in plantations.
AFPA has recently launched a mul-
ti-media campaign to restart forest
plantations and to bring into focus
the crisis facing the national forest
products industry. The campaign
highlights the fact that in a world
in which population growth is rap-
idly outstripping available resourc-
es, it is increasingly important to
use products made from renewable
materials. Forests and plantations
are very suitable for this purpose as
they provide a number of benefits in
addition to being eco-friendly.
Forests and plantations play an im-
portant role in climate change mit-
igation because of their carbon se-
questration abilities. Additionally,
timber can be used as a building
material in place of steel and con-
crete, both of which are emission in-
tensive. Forests that are periodical-
ly harvested and regrown for wood
and paper products, also known as
‘working forests’, play an important
role in climate change mitigation.
Working forests in Australia store
Mick Stephens
AFPA Deputy CEO