Import substitution

Import Substitution Project – Final report

I was going to write about this New Zealand report a few months ago but didn’t.

And now I realise what the problem was!

New Zealand farmers have been planting and growing a wide range of timber species for many decades now. And now there is an increasing backlog of timber waiting to find a market!

But the New Zealand domestic market is not used to buying farm grown timber (unless its pine or douglas fir).

Most decorative and specialist timber in New Zealand is imported.

Hence the name of the report!

But the name is wrong and reflects poorly on the report authors.

That kind of national self-sufficiency, anti-commercial, anti-competitive thinking is typical of the forest industry in Australia.

But New Zealand has a fully commercial, fully competitive forest industry.

New Zealand farm foresters don’t want industry protection (as the name of the report implies). They want access to proper functioning timber markets.

That means providing a quality product at the right price that the market wants.

It means better understanding by farmers of what timber the market wants and at what price. Growing a random assortment of tree species in the hope of one day finding a market for your timber is bound to end in disappointment.

It means building relationships between key market players – growers, loggers, sawmillers, wood merchants, builders, architects, etc..

And critically it also means creating export markets for New Zealand grown decorative and specialist timber, because New Zealand farmers will eventually overwhelm local markets.

So a better name for this report would have been “DEVELOPING MARKET ACCESS”.

Let me finish on a positive note…

Despite the dodgy name the report is an excellent summary of the numerous issues facing New Zealand farm foresters as they try and build a proper functioning timber market. I wish them every success!

Recommended reading!!