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Forestry News

Forestry leads export growth surge

21 March 2013

Forestry exports in the last quarter of 2012 helped drive growth in the New Zealand economy faster than in any quarter in the last three years.  

Information from the Overseas Investment Office (OIO), shows it was given consent in January.
The price was confidential.
OIO documents showed SCFNZ Ltd, planned to harvest and replant the land to ensure a steady supply of timber.
"The overseas investment will allow Sunchang Corporation to secure a portion of the logs it requires from its own forests which will enable it to control the quality of those logs."
The Benhopai sale was the company's second Marlborough land purchase within six months. In August it bought 2900ha of forestry land on Northbank.
Sunchang manufactures plywood, fibrewood and lumber and is one of many overseas wood product manufacturers eager to secure their sources of supply.
Story by Kat Pickford, Marlborough Express. To read the full story, click here.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/8429030/S-Koreans-buy-land-in-Waihopai-Valley
Gross domestic product grew 1.5 percent to $36.81 billion in the three months ended December 31, from a 0.2 percent pace in the September period, according to Statistics New Zealand.

That is almost twice the 0.8 percent pace of expansion predicted by the Reserve Bank in its latest forecasts published last week and the fastest pace since December 2009.

The economy grew at an annual pace of 2.5 percent, the highest annual GDP growth since March 2008. Activity in the December quarter was 3 percent higher than the same period in 2011.

Primary industry activity grew 3.2 percent in the December period, underpinned by a 9 percent lift in forestry, and is at the highest level since the series began in June 1987. Those gains offset a fall in dairy exports.

Primary industries grew 9.4 percent on an annual basis, led by a 15 percent gain in agriculture from favourable season at the start of the year.

The New Zealand dollar jumped to 82.58 US cents from 82.23 cents immediately before the figures were released. The trade-weighted index rose to 76.08 from 75.79 and the kiwi climbed to 79.57 Australian cents from 79.18 cents.

Manufacturing was the only sector to contract in the quarter, shrinking 0.5 percent. The decline was its second in a row, the first time it has reported two consecutive contractions since September 2010. It was put down to an 8.7 percent fall in petroleum, chemical, plastic and rubber products manufacturing.

The expenditure measure of GDP, which measures the final purchases of locally produced goods and services, grew 1.4 percent in the quarter, and was up 3 percent annually.

Source: Story by Paul McBeth, NBR BusinessDesk. To read the full story, click here.

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