Timberlink has backed the Australian Forest Products Association’s campaign to help sustain and support the Aussie timber industry through the CoViD-19 economic downturn. Timberlink CEO Ian Tyson said that in “normal economic times” Australia produced around 80% of the softwood timber that is used to build homes for Australians. Source: Timberbiz
The balance of supply is imported however, the impact of CoViD-19 has seen a significant drop in forecasted housing starts, affecting the demand for Australian softwood timber.
Mr Tyson said that this would have a dramatic impact on the people employed right across the supply chain, with many of those people employed in regional towns across the country.
“At this difficult time as we are working hard to keep our industry capability in place, we are asking Australian businesses in our Australian industry for additional support by buying Aussie timber first,” he said.
“The Australian softwood timber industry directly supports around 45,000 jobs and is key to many regional towns and communities.
“Choosing renewable Australian plantation timber not only keeps our mills operating but it supports the entire integrated supply chain from the harvesters, growers, logistic providers, processor, through to the timber retailer, framing manufacturer, and home builder.”
Mr Tyson said that additional support would preserve Australian jobs and keep our industry capability in place for the future, while supporting our regional communities both now and into the future.
At Timberlink’s Bell Bay mill in Northern Tasmania, the mill directly contributes around $150m to the local Georgetown economy and employs over 3% of the town’s population. Timberlink’s Tarpeena mill contributes around $180m to the local economies of Mt Gambier and the surrounding areas.
Timberlink is still investing in its Australian mill upgrade program and is also building a new CLT and GLT plant, due to open in 2023.
The ‘Buy Aussie Timber First’ messaging is linked to the successful ‘Timber Framing – The Ultimate Renewable’ campaign but focuses on why buying Aussie timber framing at this crucial time is so important to support Aussie manufacturing jobs and our supply-chain’s recovery from COVID19.
The centrepiece of the campaign is a website with testimonials from Aussie timber workers and includes the opportunity to upload your own photo to create a mosaic in support of Aussie timber framing. The campaign will include advertising with links to the site showing the reasons why you should choose renewable Aussie timber first.
