David Basham
The South Australian Government has announced a $2 million fund to increase the supply of structural timber for local homebuilders. Strong demand for timber as a result of HomeBuilder has created a supply shortage, exacerbated by last year’s bushfires, resulting in delivery delays of up to six months for timber for frames and trusses. Source: Timberbiz
The shortage is also putting pressure on small builders unable to source supply.
The SA Government has opened an Expression of Interest (EOI) process aimed at manufacturing additional logs into structural timber for local South Australian home builders.
Depending upon the proposals received, there is up to $2 million available to increase the supply of house building timbers.
Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development David Basham said the EOI process was a step towards addressing the unprecedented demand for building timbers currently being experienced by South Australian builders.
“Our forest and wood products and construction and building industries all play an essential role in the success of the state’s economy,” he said.
“The booming local housing industry is great news for the South Australian economy but the increased demand for timbers is putting real pressure on our supply chains.”
Mr Basham said State Government was working with industry to explore all options to boost supply to meet house-building demand and support local jobs in our regions and suburbs.
“This EOI process is looking for innovative options and projects that will result in the manufacture of additional building timbers in the short term to support the construction of homes in South Australia,” he said.
South Australian Forest Products Association (SAFPA) Chief Executive Officer Nathan Paine said the announcement showed the Government was listening to industry and was committed to supporting the forest products and building and construction industries in South Australia.
“SAFPA and the Master Builders Association have been working closely with the State Government on a suite of urgent measures to unlock additional structural timber supplies to support South Australian builders,” Mr Paine said.
He said the latest announcement delivered on a key tranche of these measures.
Project proposals being sought include the upgrade or purchase of sawmilling equipment or workforce expansion or upskilling that can lead to the efficient delivery of additional building timber.
Proposals must be able to commence delivering additional timber to the local market inside six months, with preference given to proposals able to start delivering within three months.
The EOI process follows the recent announcement of ForestrySA tenders which will see all log of sawmill quality being provided to the processing industry for value-adding here in regional South Australia.
““No logs of sawmill quality will be exported as a result of these tenders, in a strong sign of ForestrySA’s support for the local industry,” Mr Basham said.
“Pleasingly, as a result of a new 10-year log supply agreement, KSI Sawmills have committed to building a new $4.5 million sawmill in the Adelaide Hills which will increase supply of essential timber products and create local jobs.”
A plan to use bushfire-affected timber from Kangaroo Island to fill building industry shortages has been backed by the Master Builders SA.
But the deal to send enough KI timber to Morgan’s Sawmill in the Mid North to build 10,000 homes is reliant on government support to help meet high transport costs and to upgrade sawmill equipment to produce structural timber suitable for the local building industry.
Master Builders SA Chief Executive Officer Will Frogley welcomed the government announcement.
“For many builders, especially the smaller ones who do not have the ongoing supply lines, it is almost impossible to get timber with reports of orders pushing out to March 2022,” he said.
“We hope that the EOI will be a significant step towards moving the timber from Kangaroo Island to mainland South Australia and helping our local building industry.”
The EOI process will close on Thursday, 15 July 2021 at 11.59pm.
