Australia’s exports of softwood logs declined 5.0% over the year-ended November 2018, totalling 4.213 million m3. Year-end exports were just 0.1% lower than in October, indicating the trade is increasingly stable. Considered from a strategic perspective, the exports remain significant, especially because in recent times, supply of logs has been tight. Source: IndustryEdge for Timberbiz
Underscoring this, exports in the month of November totalled 368,332 m3, up 17.3% on the prior month, albeit 1.2% lower than in November 2017.
Over the year-ended November 2018, softwood logs of <15 cm diameter accounted for 21.1% of total exports (889,184 m3), while the larger diameter logs accounted for 78.9% (3,324,461m3).
For export, logs are recorded as larger or smaller than 15cm diameter. Larger dimension (>15 cm diameter at the small end) logs dominate exports volumes, and in the month of November, they accounted for 75.5% of total exports. The reported export volume was 278,090 m3, at an average price of AUDFob145.24/m3.
Exports of small sized softwood logs exports increased in November to 90,242 m3. Exports were recorded at an average price of AUDFob141.82/m3 in November.
For hardwood logs, in November, exports totalled 46,423 m3, at an average price of AUDFob205.39/m3.
Exports in November were almost all to China, with the previous trade to Malaysia from Tasmania now appearing to be significantly disrupted, if not curtailed entirely.
The table above shows hardwood log exports by State for the last three months.
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