My recent trip to China caused me to reflect on some changes that have taken place in the Chinese forestry sector since I was last involved as a consultant 15 years ago, not the least of which was that the smaller town hotel plumbing has gotten a lot more robust than it was back then!
READ MOREThe PF Olsen Viking Timber Management (VTM) team, based in Rotorua, has recently undertaken two significant powerline felling projects of note. These operations had different challenges and constraints, but through a collaborative planning and management approach that involved the harvesting contractor both were completed successfully without incident.
READ MOREIntroducing Kevin Haine - PF Olsen Container Nursery Manager.
READ MOREForest owners in many large countries with large commercial estates wised up years ago. Chile, Australia, Sweden and Norway, Indonesia and Malaysia just to name a few have been planting container treestocks for decades.
READ MORERelative stability has been a theme of the past 18 months of log trading. This has been very welcome in contrast to the damaging volatility of prior periods.
READ MORERecently a group of New Zealand loggers went to Elmia Wood 2013, the world's largest forestry machinery exposition, held near Jonkoping in southern Sweden from 5-8 June 2013.
READ MOREPrices for NZUs have been on the rise. Price at the time of last WoodMatters mid-July was around the $2.00 mark and is currently at around $2.50 per NZU.
READ MOREEvery sector has some claim to its importance and uniqueness in its actual or potential contribution to our economy and lifestyle.
READ MORERecently PF Olsen Australia has had the opportunity to discuss with federal politicians and national forestry representative bodies about some of the key emerging issues that we see as requiring attention.
READ MOREIt is fair to say that trees and power lines are not particularly compatible. Vegetation, including tree crops, that grow too close to power lines presents a hazard to power lines that can interrupt electricity supply (for example through trees touching or falling on lines).
READ MORENo one ever said change is easy, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good thing in the end. PF Olsen Ltd and Waiariki Institute of Technology have seen their partnership evolve over the years not only in the relationships established, but also in regards to their combined focus on safety.
READ MOREIn a report released early in June, the Ministry for Primary Industries estimated that log export volumes from New Zealand would be 7 per cent higher in the year ending June 30 than the same period in 2012.
READ MOREPrices for NZUs have fluctuated up and down between the $1.75 and $2.00 mark from mid June to mid July and are currently trading at around $2.00 per NZU.
READ MOREThanks to all those people that took the time to complete and return the PF Olsen Customer Satisfaction Survey.
READ MOREThanks for the feedback from readers of Wood Matters. It's great to get your views, whether supportive or otherwise of ideas or views expressed.
READ MOREThe government is quite rightly focused on materially improving New Zealand's economic performance. Part of the Business Growth Agenda is to move export earnings from 30% to 40% of GDP by 2025. It is now widely recognised that such an ambitious target will not be achieved without material improvements in earnings from our primary, land-based industries.
READ MOREPF Olsen has recently appointed Brendan Horrell as the branch manager in Nelson.
READ MOREStrong export and domestic demand has underpinned harvesting programmes as we head into more difficult winter harvesting conditions in New Zealand.
READ MOREPrices for NZUs have fluctuated between the $1.65 and $2.00 mark in May/ early June and are currently trading at around $1.80 per NZU. The cheaper imported ERUs, which can be used for surrender purposes until 2015, have ascended sharply from a low of $0.13 in May to $0.25 per ERU this week.
READ MOREOn 10th June 2013 we had the opportunity to profile the FFR programme to improve the productivity and safety of harvesting on steep terrain to a gathering of politicians, officials and business people at the Beehive.
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