New Zealand Announces Its Forestry and Wood Processing Industry Transformation Plan

New Zealand’s Forestry Minister Stuart Nash announced on Monday (12-5-22) the Forestry and Wood Processing Industry Transformation Plan (ITP). Nash says the ITP will increase wood processing in the country and grow a low-carbon, high value timber industry.

According to minister Nash, “The ITP sets the path for future export growth that does not just rely on exporting logs and instead opens up domestic opportunities such as converting wood into high-tech low-carbon products such as construction materials, including timber frames, fence paling and decking, and into bio-materials such as liquid and solid fuels.”

“These will all create more employment and lift sustainability,” Nash continued. “We will also develop our domestic woody biomass industry that takes forestry by-products such as branches, bark, chips, and sawdust and turns them into products such as pellets and particleboard, and into biofuels to power our transport, make plastics and pharmaceuticals, and replace high-emissions materials in our buildings.”

To that end, Nash reported that the government had allocated $27 million (NZS) in Budget 22 to support the delivery of the ITP and have ring-fenced another $155 million to support ITP-related initiatives and projects.