Woodchip Production Down Again in Tasmania
10/12/99
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Woodchip Production Down Again in Tasmania
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 12, 1999
CANBERRA, Australia, October 12, 1999 (ENS) - Woodchip production in
the Australian island state of Tasmania decreased in the June quarter
of this year compared to the June quarter 1998. Chipped and ground
wood production, totalling 1,061,128 tonnes for the quarter, was down
by 5.1 percent on the same quarter of 1998.
Annual production of woodchips for 1998-99 was 3.9 million tonnes,
11.5 percent less than in 1997-98, according to a report released
today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The ABS reported that the volume of logs delivered to mills for
woodchipping in the June quarter 1999 was 925,862 cubic metres, 11.7
percent less than in the June quarter 1998. The volume of logs
delivered to woodchipping establishments for 1998-99 was 3.5 million
cubic metres, a drop of 13.5 percent on 1997-98.
Log deliveries to sawmills and plywood mills for the June quarter
1999 totalled 222,334 cubic metres, an increase of 0.8 percent when
compared with the June quarter 1998 figure. The volume of logs
delivered to awmills and plywood mills for 1998-99 was 875,365 cubic
metres, down 0.6 percent on 1997-98.
The overall sawmilling output of 84,477 cubic metres of timber in the
June quarter 1999 was 3.1 percent higher than output for the same
quarter last year, while hardwood sawn timber production decreased to
41,304 cubic metres, 3.3 percent lower than the figure recorded in
the June quarter 1998.
Softwood timber production (43,173 cubic metres) was up by 10.1
percent on the same period last year. Production of sawn timber for
the year 1998-99 was 334,819 cubic metres, a decrease of 2.7 percent
from the previous year.
The total volume of logs delivered to Tasmanian sawmills and woodchip
mills in the June quarter 1999 was 1,148,196 cubic metres. This was a
decrease of 9.5 percent when compared with the figure for June
quarter 1998. Logs from crown land made up 54.7 percent of the total.
Total log deliveries for the year accounted for 4.3 million cubic
metres, a decrease of 11.2 percent from 1997-98.