Forestry

The Southland forestry industry is well established and diverse, in terms of commercial forest species, because of unique climactic conditions and the utilisation of land at higher altitudes. Southland has a long history in forestry - the first production thinnings from planted forests were processed in 1933. There is a strong emphasis on sustainability of forestry in Southland, 99% of wood is sourced from planted forests, and 1% from sustainably managed natural forests.

 In Otago/Southland there are 28 sawmills, an MDF plant, a mouldings facility, veneer operation and two wood chip plants. Forestry growth has slowed over the past years, due to increasing returns to dairy farming. This has always fluctuated, and the introduction of the Emissions Trading Scheme in line with New Zealand’s objectives under the Kyoto Protocol may increase returns to forestry again. Due to Southland’s strong history of forestry, the regions infrastructure has developed complementarily for forestry. The forestry and wood products sector in Otago and Southland employ more than 1,650 full time equivalent workers with a wide range of skills. More than three quarters of the regional harvest is processed in some form.