Meetings between wood industry representatives and the Minister of Forestry have ended in somewhat of a stalemate for both sides.

Together with wood processing representatives, the National Distribution Union and the EPMU met with Minister David Carter to discuss what they call a ‘crisis situation’.

More than 1500 jobs at processing plants have been lost since 2008, as plants close or downsize in the face of high costs and low prices for their products.

NDU General Secretary Robert Reid says both unions made suggestions to the minister around the exchange rate and government intervention on their behalf.

"They don’t see that as the role of government anymore, and by that I mean the role of government over managing the exchange rate.

"The current goverment don't see it as their responsibility - it's entirely up to the reserve bank."

Robert Reid says despite a lot of good will, the Minister didn’t commit to anything substantial in the short term.

"When you ask the question about what the government can do they almost with pride say, with a lot of the issues we raised, 'nothing'."

David Carter says while he recognises the problems, the National Government won’t intervene in the free market system to change domestic log prices, or the exchange rate.

"One suggestion from the union was that we start to look at the exchange rate and fix it rather than float it, categorically that is not an option."

The Minister says the suggestion of a 9 day fortnight could hold promise, but would be conditional on a detailed proposal before anything is drawn up.

"There was a scheme developed through the international financial crisis that offered a nine day fortnight to businesses.

"It was a temporary scheme, I invited the union to do more work on whether any of these redundancies looked to be a relatively short measure."

The two parties planned  another meeting mid-year to examine the results of a MAF industry study.