The company is expected to market and sell up to 4 million green metric tonnes of hardwood woodchip per annum once it is established. The business will focus solely on plantation woodchips, in particular Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus nitens, and may expand to other products and markets in line with the growth and maturation of New Forests’ timberland investments.
The new business will be based in Melbourne and led by Director David Evans. Mr Evans brings extensive Asia Pacific timber marketing experience, having been involved in forestry and woodchip export businesses in Australia and Asia for more than 30 years and having sold more than 50 million tonnes of timber products into Asian markets.
“Our investments in Australia have reached a scale where it makes sense to take control of the marketing and sales of our hardwood woodchip exports,” said New Forests’ CEO David Brand. “We are now the largest manager of hardwood plantations in Australia, and we operate entirely on freehold land, with the goal of 100% FSC certification by the end of 2015. That makes us a sustainable, reliable, and efficient long-term partner to Asian wood fibre buyers.”
Key woodchip markets in the region include China and Japan, with other markets in Asia, such as India, also showing growing demand for woodchip and other timber products.
New Forests Timber Products is a wholly-owned subsidiary of New Forests Pty Limited, which is headquartered in Sydney and includes funds management subsidiaries in the United States and Singapore.
