Australian plantations: mixed signals ahead

Abstract

Plantation development in Australia has had a history of starts and stops. In the four major softwood plantation regions, forecasts of future availability provide very little scope for expansion of softwood sawmilling. In the three major hardwood plantation regions, considerable scope exists to increase exports of woodchips or expand pulp processing. Plantation development is presently in the doldrums, pending rationalization of hardwood estates by companies that bought the recently demised Managed Investment Schemes. Following this rationalization, industrial softwood growers will need to purchase or acquire access to additional land to meet processors' desires to upscale and remain interna..