- Planted Forest Owners & Managers
- Carter Holt Harvey Forests
- Selwyn Plantation Board Ltd
- Blakely Pacific Limited
- Crown Forestry Management Ltd
- Other Forest Owners
- Processing Companies
- Sawmills
- Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) Manufacturing
- Veneer & Panel Overlay
Canterbury’s Forest Industry
About 45 percent of Canterbury’s planted production forest resource is held by three companies: Carter Holt Harvey Forests; Selwyn Plantation Board Ltd; and Blakely Pacific Limited. Compared with most other regions, a large proportion of Canterbury’s forest resource (totalling about 50 percent) is held by local authorities, partnerships, farmers and other small forest owners.
PLANTED FOREST OWNERS & MANAGERS
Carter Holt Harvey Forests (CHHF) is a fully owned subsidiary of Carter Holt Harvey Ltd, a publicly listed New Zealand company. CHHF has 33 000 hectares of stocked forest. The company manages forests at Hanmer (net stocked area 4200 hectares), Balmoral (8800 hectares), Omihi (1200 hectares), Ashley (5400 hectares), Okuku (4000 hectares), Mount Thomas (1600 hectares), View Hill (300 hectares) and Eyrewell (6600 hectares) under a forestry right with Ngai Tahu. These forests are located in the Hurunui and Waimakariri Districts. In addition, CHHF manages 900 hectares of radiata pine in Canterbury as freehold or through joint ventures.
Production from CHHF’s Canterbury forests has ranged between 300 000 and 400 000 cubic metres per annum since 1994 when Carter Holt Harvey Panels Ltd commissioned a second line at its medium density fibreboard plant near Rangiora. The sustained yield potential from CHHF’s Canterbury forests is estimated to be around 500 000 cubic metres per annum.
Ownership of the Selwyn Plantation Board Ltd is held by the Selwyn District Council (61 percent) and Christchurch City Council (39 percent).
The company has about 10 200 hectares of stocked forest on the coastal strip north of Christchurch and on the mid-Canterbury plains and foothills. Annual production was approximately 45 000 cubic metres in 1993, 75 000 cubic metres in 1996, and is expected to be about 150 000 cubic metres in 2000/01.
Blakely Pacific Limited is a Seattle based company that has recently purchased Geraldine Forest (stocked area about 4000 hectares) from Ngai Tahu. Most of Geraldine Forest was planted from the mid-1960s, and harvesting commenced in 1988. In 1995 Blakely Pacific commenced planting Pentland Hills in Waimate District.
The Aoraki Forests (Waimate in Canterbury and Silverpeaks in North Otago) are owned by the Crown and managed by Crown Forestry Management Ltd. The operational management contract for these forests is currently held by Resource Management (NZ) Ltd in Waimate.
Waimate Forest (2900 hectares) was established from 1978 and production is likely to start around 2006. Sustainable production from Waimate Forest is estimated to be about 50 000 cubic metres per year.
Major local authority forest owners are Environment Canterbury (2300 hectares), Ashburton District Council (1721 hectares), Waimate District Council (948 hectares), Mackenzie District Council (792 hectares), and Timaru District Council (231 hectares).
Canterbury’s wood processing industry is largely comprised of a number of medium and small-scale sawmills, and a medium density fibreboard (MDF) plant. Veneer processing and quality furniture manufacture are small-volume but significant added value industries. Over 300 enterprises produce wood and wood products in Canterbury and provide approximately 900 jobs in first stage processing industries (see Table 7, page 17), and about another 1000 in secondary processing and finishing of wood products.
Since 1995 sawn timber production in Canterbury has averaged around 165 000 cubic metres per year. In 2000 production reached 212 000 cubic metres (see Table 5). The largest six sawmills account for nearly 70 percent of the total production. Some of the smaller fixed mills use old technology with low levels of capital investment in plant improvements. The number of portable or chainsaw mills operating on a near full time basis has increased in recent years, and current estimates are nine portable mills producing in total about 10 000 cubic metres annually.
Table 4: Sawmills operating in Canterbury - Year Ended 31 March 2001
| Sawmill | Location | Drying kilns | Portable |
| A. Production level: 25 000 m3 – 50 000 m3 sawn timber per annum | |||
| McAlpines Ltd | Rangiora | Yes | |
| McVicar Timber Group Ltd | Harewood | Yes | |
| Methven Sawmills Ltd | Methven | ||
| B. Production level: 10 000 m3 – 24 999 m3 sawn timber per annum | |||
| Craigpine Timber Ltd | Yaldhurst | Yes | |
| Keighleys Waimak Ltd | Kaiapoi | Yes | |
| Mitchell Bros. Sawmillers | Darfield | Yes | |
| Shands Road Sawmills Ltd | Rolleston | Yes | |
| Stoneyhurst Sawmilling Co. Ltd | Belfast | Yes | |
| C. Production level: 5 000 m3 – 9 999 m3 sawn timber per annum | |||
| Arundel Lumber Co. | Arundel | Yes | |
| Ashburton Timber Co. Ltd | Ashburton | Yes | |
| Selwyn Sawmills Ltd | Hororata | ||
| Sutherland & Co. Ltd | Kaiapoi | Yes | |
| D. Production level: 500 m3 to 4 999 m3 sawn timber per annum | |||
| Adams Sawmilling Co. Ltd | Ashburton | ||
| Avonhead Sawmilling | Harewood | ||
| Basher, H.C. & Sons Ltd | Amberley | ||
| Bennetts Sawmill | Oxford | ||
| Borneo Sawmill (NZ) Ltd | Oxford | ||
| Grant Jamieson | Akaroa | Portable | |
| Mizer Mobile Sawmills Ltd | Pleasant Point | Fixed & Portable | |
| Scott, R.S. & G.E. | Geraldine | ||
| Timberlinz Portable Sawmilling | Ashburton | Portable | |
| Waimate Timber | Waimate | Yes | |
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Note: (1) Drying kilns include heat pumps and dehumidifiers, low temperature, conventional, accelerated conventional and high temperature kilns.
There are an additional 13 sawmills in the region that each produce less than 500 cubic metres of sawn timber per annum. Six of these are portable sawmills.
All the larger mills in Canterbury export sawn timber, mainly to Australian markets. Some of the smaller mills also export significant amounts of their production, often through co-operative marketing arrangements. Sawn timber exports account for approximately 55 percent of the region’s total production of sawn timber. Potential production from Canterbury mills, using existing plant but working overtime and/or additional shifts, is estimated at 245 000 cubic metres per annum.
Although sawn timber is the main product, most of the larger mills and some smaller ones have diversified into added value reprocessing. In addition to remanufacturing plants at existing sawmills, a small number of specialist lumber factories process externally sourced sawn timber into high-value products. Remanufactured products include clear pine mouldings, panels, speciality boxes and packaging, and wooden componentry.
Canterbury processors have increased their use of timber to produce a range of high-value, remanufactured products. New technologies that are improving wood processing include dimension component sawing, thick slicing, finger-jointing and vapour phase preservative treatment. The increase in clearwood volumes from pruned forests will improve opportunities for high-value processing.
Table 5: Production of Rough Sawn Timber from Canterbury (cubic metres)
| Year ended 31 March |
Natural forest |
Planted forest |
Total |
|
| 1990 | 5 |
108 763 |
108 768 |
|
| 1991 | 9 |
140 917 |
140 926 |
|
| 1992 | 10 |
129 085 |
129 095 |
|
| 1993 | 32 |
131 908 |
131 940 |
|
| 1994 | 1 304 |
153 662 |
154 966 |
|
| 1995 | 1 708 |
155 792 |
157 500 |
|
| 1996 | 2 293 |
142 523 |
144 816 |
|
| 1997 | 883 |
161 509 |
162 392 |
|
| 1998 | 235 |
150 687 |
150 922 |
|
| 1999 | 406 |
159 951 |
160 357 |
|
| 2000 | 24 |
212 249 |
212 273 |
|
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) Manufacturing
Carter Holt Harvey Panels - MDF: The Carter Holt Harvey Panels - MDF plant at Sefton (near Rangiora) was the first MDF facility in New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere, commencing production in 1976.
In 1994 a second production line increased annual production capacity to over 200 000 cubic metres of panel products, processing the equivalent of about 420 000 cubic metres of logs per annum. The plant utilises about 40 percent of the total Canterbury log harvest, mostly from Carter Holt Harvey Forests in the Hurunui and Waimakariri Districts and from Selwyn Plantation Board Ltd forests in Selwyn District and Christchurch City. About a quarter of the wood fibre is sourced as woodchip; most from Canterbury sawmills although some is from the larger mills on the West Coast.
Gunns New Zealand Pty Ltd: Gunns New Zealand Pty Ltd is part of Gunns Limited Group (an Australian forestry company), that purchased the former Carter Holt Harvey Panels plant at Hornby in 1999. Gunns New Zealand Pty Ltd produces over three million square metres of sliced veneer per annum. About 75 percent of the veneer is from radiata pine, most of which is exported. Rimu and Lawson cypress are also sliced.
Contact for Enquiries
Policy Analyst - Forestry
Innovation and Research
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Tel: +64 4 894 0100
Fax: +64 4 894 0741
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