A private Tasmanian forestry company hopes independent environmental certification will help double its overseas woodchip exports. Source: ABC News
Forico has been awarded Forestry Stewardship Council certification, meaning its products can be marketed overseas as responsibly managed.
Chief executive Bryan Hayes said it would help boost woodchip exports to northern Asia.
“We already had a plan to expand our volumes, almost double our volumes this year, from 800,000 tonnes in the previous year to 1.5 million tonnes,” he said.
“We already had plans to do that but we hadn’t secured the customers, hadn’t locked them down for the year so with this certification we’ll be able to go back into the marketplace and lock down those volumes.”
It is hoped the certification will allow the company to export into Korea and Taiwan.
In September Forico reopened the Hampshire mill near Burnie after the 2010 closure caused by the collapse of timber giant Gunns.
The mill’s closure lead to big job losses and forest contracting businesses folding. Forestry contractors in the north-west are again investing in new equipment after Forico spent about $10 million reopening the mill.
Mr Hayes said the re-opened mill and certification would boost job numbers.
“[There’ll be] a little more than 30, maybe 35 direct positions, but in addition to that there’s about another 150, in terms of servicing the plantations, doing the harvesting, transporting, replanting those plantations,” he said.
The state-owned Forestry Tasmania is also seeking the certification, but a decision has been delayed. The timeline for a decision is unclear.
