SOUTHEM ONLINE

Southern Hemisphere Forest Industry Journal Online news briefs

SOUTHEM Online - Issue 264 – 2 May 2011

Hi and Hola - Welcome to this edition of Southem Online. It’s one of those “knock on wood”
moments. Andy Buchanan, research director of consortium Sustainable Buildings of the
Future, has told a New Zealand Institute of Forestry conference in Auckland that there is a
huge opportunity for the forestry sector in the rebuilding the quake-struck city of Christchurch
in the south of the country. According to the stuff.co.nz report, he said that timber was a good
product for the rebuilding of the quake-hit city because it was durable, carbon neutral,
renewable, and required low energy. "It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and the new
cityscape could be really special," he is reported as saying. Knock, knock - is anybody out
there listening?

Cheers and Saludos from Down Under

Mike Smith
Editor and Director
Email: info@southem.com
URL: www.southernhemisphereforestry.co.nz and www.southem.com

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UNITED STATES TIMBERLAND MARKETS: TRANSACTIONS, VALUES AND MARKET

RESEARCH
Private timberland ownership in the United States has changed structure over the past ten
years. More than 40 million acres of US timberland have shifted ownership in approximately
600 large transactions since 2000. The global timberland investment community gathered in
March at Reynolds Plantation, Georgia, for the Warnell Center for Forest Business (CFB)
Timberland Investment Conference 2011 to discuss the current timberland investment climate
and challenges ahead. Jacek Siry of the CFB presented “Private Forestland Ownership
Change in the US”. He summarized findings from his new book US Timberland Markets: 2000
to 2010 which was jointly authored with Tom Harris and Sara Baldwin of Timber Mart-South.
For more information.
http://www.timbermart-south.com/pdf/US_Timberland_Markets_TOC_2011-04.pdf
Or email:
sbaldwin@warnell.uga.edu

REMSOFT NAMED IN ‘COOL VENDORS’ LIST

Remsoft, the leading provider of asset lifecycle optimization solutions for land-based and
infrastructure assets, today announced that it has been included in the Gartner, Inc. report,
“Cool Vendors in Green IT and Sustainability, 2011. ” The report highlights “five vendors with
value propositions that blur and expand boundaries.” According to the report authors, “The
five vendors we have chosen are united by their ability to improve the operational efficiency of
organizations, which they do by targeting different contemporary aspects of sustainable
performance.”

“Business leaders are beginning to recognize that they must implement sustainable strategies
– social, environmental and economic – for managing their businesses. There are significant
gains to be had for those who get it right, and get it right early,” said Andrea Feunekes, co-
CEO of Remsoft. “We believe this Gartner report serves as confirmation that Remsoft’s linear
programming and analytical capabilities can help organizations find significant benefits
through the long-term optimization of land-based and physical infrastructure assets.”
For more information, please call 1-506-450-1511 or email info@remsoft.com

FORESTS FEATURE NEW FANTASY NOVEL

A mystical forest plays a leading role in new fantasy novel by Rotorua, New Zealand-based
author Sarah Groot. “The Forgotten” is the first book in The Faynon Chronicles in which
beautiful Princess Sindra rises from the street to take control of her destiny as leader of
Galadon Knights who have spent generations hidden deep in the forests. Now available from
Amazon.com in paperback and for Kindle download. For more details and to buy, go to:

Paperback at http://tinyurl.com/sgpaper

Kindle at http://tinyurl.com/sgkindle

NEW FORESTRY COUNTRY REPORTS NOW AVAILABLE

The suite of Southern Hemisphere forestry country reports has been updated and is now
available. Included in the package are Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay in Latin America;
Australia and New Zealand; and South Africa. The reports provide new details on the
geography, politics and economics of each country; along with industry details and trade
updates – all at a reasonable price. For more details, email:
sales@southem.com

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Items headlined in SOUTHEM Online are drawn from a number of sources. The source of
the item is quoted, either by publication or organisations in line with the practice of fair
reporting. Items originally published in Spanish are translated by TMS Ltd. Every effort is
made to ensure use of paid wire service material is avoided at all times. Should users wish to
utilise SOUTHEM Online on their own web sites, we request that this is done to accurately
reflect the current layout to ensure attribution is appropriate.

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CMPC CHANGING OF THE GUARD

Chile’s CMPC forest products group has begun the process of a widespread replacement of
its management and directors. The arrival of Hernán Rodríguez as the replacement for Arturo
Mackenna marked the start of a major change in the management. The CMPC President
Eliodoro Matte has started the process of departure as well, in order to introduce a third
generation of leadership.

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BRAZILIAN FOREST RESEARCHERS VISIT URUGUAY AND ARGENTINA

A group of forest technicians from Brazil is visiting counterparts in Uruguay and Argentina.
The delegation from the Brazil Institute of Forest Investigations and Studies (IPEF) were to
visit (starting 2 May) the facilities and activities of INTA in Argentina, and the Uruguayan
companies Forestal Oriental S.A. and Montes del Plata del Uruguay.
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‘DON’T BLAME WEATHER’ – SA STEEL POINTS FINGER AT MATERIALS AND

LABOUR
South Africa’s Steel Construction sector has claimed the significant number of failing roofs
each year in the country is more due to substandard materials and poor workmanship rather
than the wild weather. Engineering News quoted the Southern African Institute of Steel
Construction (SAISC) executive director Dr Hennie de Clercq as saying that heart-wrenching
images in South Africa of schoolchildren studying in the open, after the roofs of their schools
had been blown off, are not the direct result of destructive winds, but rather of shoddy and
unacceptable building materials and practices.

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BRAZILIAN COMPANY SPENDING US$6.5M ON EUCALYPT CLONING FACILITY

Eucalipto Brasil is planning to spend Real 10 million (about US$6.5 million) in a new cloning
facility near the city of Andradina in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Andravirtual.com reported
the investment would generate 300 jobs and, with an estimated production of 48 million
clones per year, is expected to be a major player in Brazil

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URUGUAY COMING OFF LOWS WITH HELP FROM PULP MARKETS

The Uruguay forestry sector is recovering well from the economic crisis, according to a recent
report. El Pais quoted the manager of the Forest Producers Society, Edgardo Cardoso, as
saying not all forest markets were behaving in the same way, with news from each quite
being contradictory, but Uruguay was fortunate in exporting materials in the more buoyant
pulp sector.

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INQUIRY FINDS ‘NO COMPELLING CASE’ FOR SA TIMBER SALE

A Senate inquiry has concluded there is “no compelling case” to sell South Australian timber
assets. A copy of the report says “On the question of the likely value for money of the forward
sale alone, when foregone profits are set against the likely up-front sale price, the evidence
received would suggest that there is as yet, prima facie, no compelling case for the proposed
forward sale”. The SA Government has come under intense pressure since announcing
plans to sell-off up to three harvest rotations of state forestry assets.

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FURNITURE-MAKERS RAISE JOB FEARS OVER FOREST PEACE DEAL

Furniture-makers in Australia are attacking Green policies they say will put 2,000 forestry and
furniture jobs at risk, the ABC reported. A newspaper advertisement from Furniture Australia
was cited by the Tasmanian State Opposition as an attack on a forestry peace deal made in
the island state. The deal endeavours to balance the policies of influential Green politicians
with worries over forestry’s future. Liberals’ Peter Gutwein was quoted as saying the
government should step in to ensure there were no more job losses.

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SAWMILLS SUFFERING ‘DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS’

Meanwhile, another ABC report noted how a high Australian dollar and competition from
cheaper imports was squeezing the timber industry in the East Gippsland region. As well as
a reduced allocation of native timber resources in recent years, the region’s sawmillers had
faced the impact of a high dollar making imported product much cheaper. One sawmill owner
described the situation as “a death by a thousand cuts”.

NZ PINE MANUFACTURERS FIND GOING ‘REALLY, REALLY TOUGH’

Meanwhile, Lawrie Halkett, chief executive of the New Zealand Pine Manufacturers
Association, said his members were finding it "really, really tough". Quoted in the Nelson
Mail, Mr Halkett said some member companies were laying off staff, while others had cut
production and work hours. "I would call it a crisis, definitely," he said. The squeeze was
coming from rising log prices, driven by demand from China, and the high kiwi dollar and
stronger shipping rates, which were making exporting often barely profitable.

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GUNNS ON DEFENCE OVER LEGAL ACTION ON SLUMP

Australian timber products group Gunns Ltd says it will vigorously defend legal action being
taken against it on behalf of a group of investors. A statement of claim has been lodged in
the Federal Court on behalf of litigation funder IMF (Australia) Ltd in relation to the class
action. Lawyers Maurice Blackburn file the action, backed by IMF, claiming Gunns misled the
market by failing to disclose it was headed for a 99% profit slump, a charge Gunns says it will
defend. The case is said be worth millions of dollars.

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CHILE SET FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY INVESTMENT IN AGRO-FORESTRY

Chile plans to develop “non-conventional” renewable energy (NCRE) for agriculture to
sharpen the competitiveness of its forest-agriculture products, it’s reported. Vice Agriculture
Minister Alvaro Cruzat was quoted in a report as saying that the initiative would be promoted
with clear rules to facilitate investment in those sectors and increasing the competitiveness of
Chilean products abroad.

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PLANNED NZ BUDGET CUTS ILL-WIND FOR CONSERVATION DEPT

Planned budget cuts and restructuring at the Department of Conservation (DOC) could
threaten New Zealand's economic recovery as well as the environment, independent
conservation organisation Forest & Bird said in a statement. The government announced in
2009 that DOC's budget would be cut by NZ$54 million over four years and further cuts have
been indicated for the budget later this month. DOC is currently carrying out a review on how
to restructure its operations to accommodate a shrinking budget.

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WATER PERMEABILITY MAP HIGHLIGHTS LEAKY SOUTH

The highly permeable nature of much of the southern hemisphere has been illustrated
through a study by University of British Columbia researchers. The group produced the first
map of the world outlining the ease of fluid flow through the planet’s porous rocks and
sediments. The maps and data, published in Geophysical Research Letters, highlight how
much of the southern regions of Latin America and Africa have medium to high permeability.
As could be expected, the mineral-rich areas of South Africa and Australia have lowest
permeability.

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WILDFIRES IN CHILE
The forests and grasslands of central Chile were ablaze with multiple fires on April 8, 2011
when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite
passed overhead and captured this true-color image.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/fires/main/world/20110427-chile.html

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SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE VIDEOS

WAYS OF ESCAPE
Why an escape route is essential in timber felling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nUitA-BFaw

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ARTICLES OF INTEREST:

MATRIX MEASURES BRAZILIAN FOREST SECTOR’S ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE

Sousa, Eliane Pinheiro de et al. Performance of the forest sector for Brazilian economy:
an approach of the input-output matrix. Rev. Árvore [online]. 2010, vol.34, n.6, pp. 1129-
1138. ISSN 0100-6762. doi: 10.1590/S0100-67622010000600019.
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0100-
67622010000600019&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en

WE LIVE IN A FLUID WORLD

Gleeson, T., L. Smith, N. Moosdorf, J. Hartmann, H. H. Dürr, A. H. Manning, L. P. H. van
Beek, and A. M. Jellinek (2011), Mapping permeability over the surface of the Earth,
Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L02401, doi:10.1029/2010GL045565.
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2010GL045565.shtml

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IUFRO TREE BIOTECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE

26 June-2 July 2011. IUFRO Tree Biotechnology Conference 2011 - From genomes to
integration and delivery. Arraial D’ajuda, Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil. Contact: Dario
Grattapaglia, Email: dario(at)cenargen.embrapa.br.
http://www.treebiotech2011.com/

EARTH ON THE EDGE

28 June-7 July 2011. Earth on the Edge: Science for a Sustainable Planet. Melbourne,
Australia.
http://www.iugg2011.com/

BOLIVIAN WOOD MEETING

1 July 2011. Sixth Wood Business Meeting, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Camera Forestal de Bolivia.
rueda.negocios@cfb.org.bo

BREEDING AND GENETIC RESOURCES OF FIVE-NEEDLE PINES

15-25 Aug 2011. 4th Conference on the Breeding and Genetic Resources of Five-Needle
Pines. Tomsk, Russia. IUFRO 2.02.15, Contact: John King, Email: John.King(at)gov.bc.ca.
http://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-2/20000/20200/20215/.

FOREST INDUSTRY 2011

5-7 September 2011. Forest Industry 2011. Rotorua, New Zealand.
http://www.forestevents.co.nz/

AUSTIMBER 2012
29-31 March 2012. AusTimber 2012. Mount Gambier, South Australia, Australia.
http://www.austimber2012.com.au/

BRAZIL TO HOST 2015 WORLD STATS CONGRESS

The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics will host in the second half of 2015, the
60th World Congress of Statistics, organised by the International Statistical Institute. Go to:
http://www.isi-web.org/

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