Woodchip exports up 15%

The latest figures show that the Hodgman Liberal Government’s Plan to rebuild the forest industry to drive economic growth and create jobs is working.

It’s extremely pleasing to see from June’s ABS figures that wood and woodchip exports have increased more than 21 per cent compared to last year. TasPorts has also advised that woodchip exports alone also increased in the 14/15 financial year to 2.14 million tonnes.

Woodchips remain Tasmania’s largest export by volume and these figures shows there is a viable market for our wood residues. The opportunities are only growing for Tasmania as the world embraces biomass as a sustainable use of resources.

After Bryan Green put a wrecking ball through the forestry industry and oversaw the loss of two out of every three jobs, we are now seeing green shoots under this Government.

We’ve secured sawmilling jobs, put Forestry Tasmania on a sustainable financial path, given workplaces the strongest protection laws in the country and we’ve ended the Labor-Green lock-ups for future production.

The Hodgman Liberal Government has a long term Plan for Tasmania and we need to capitalise on the gains we’ve made to grow the economy and create jobs.
Paul Harriss, Minister for Resources