The world's largest producer of Indian sandalwood will plant another 1500 hectares of timber this year, but for the first time the bulk of its plantings won't be in Western Australia. Source: ABC Rural

Flooring & Finishes and the Australian Timber Flooring Association (ATFA) will showcase an impressive line-up of more than 80 companies’ products for the first time at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre from 19-22 July 2012. Source: Timberbiz

The Australian Timber Design Awards and the New Zealand Timber Design Awards are both calling for entries. Source: Timberbiz, Timber & Design International

The World Conference on Timber Engineering will be held from 15-19 July 2012 in Auckland hosted by New Zealand and Australian timber engineers. It is the next in a series of world timber conferences that have taken place in Italy, Japan, the US, Finland, Malaysia, Canada, Switzerland

A Queensland timber lobby group says it is not surprised by a report that shows a rapid decline in the number of sawmills. The report by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences shows log processing mills have declined 70 per cent over the past decade

Tripartite talks between the EU Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe concluded by adding a minimum €200 in extra costs to the Finnish forest industry due to the Sulphur Directive. Source: Timberbiz

The US SC Forestry Commission has said that a ban by China on imported South Carolina and Virginia grown logs is close to ending now that a small delegation of Chinese authorities has visited the areas. Sources: Traditional BreakBulk, The Times and Democrat

Ikea is facing heavy criticism for the logging and clear-cutting of old-growth forests in the north of Russian Karelia by its wholly owned subsidiary Swedwood. Source: The Guardian