As yet another sawmill shut up shop for good this week one of the country’s major unions has accused the government of sitting on its hands while New Zealand’s wood processing industry suffocates.
As yet another sawmill shut up shop for good this week one of the country’s major unions has accused the government of sitting on its hands while New Zealand’s wood processing industry suffocates.
Forty more wood processing workers lost their jobs in Upper Hutt this week when the Eurocell Timber plant became the latest victim of the high kiwi dollar and foreign demand for logs.
Robert Reid, the general secretary for the FIRST Union, says the government won’t help the industry with the exchange rate.
“Governments do control the exchange rate whether they say they are or not. I mean everybody knows that. Well Governments except for New Zealand.
"Russia, Canada, parts of the United States and Chile actually have a lower differential log price for local producers as opposed to export prices, so other people are doing it so it can be done. But New Zealand has chosen not to and this government has chosen not to.”
Mr Reid says there’s every chance that when the Christchurch rebuild does occur, it will be with wood that was exported from New Zealand, processed abroad into timber and lumber, then imported back in for the rebuild.
“That’s the scenario that’s likely to happen and it’s absolutely crazy. That would mean that potential jobs for thousands of New Zealanders would be gone.”
Mr Reid says nothing has come from industry crisis meetings this year with the government.
However, Forestry Minister David Carter says New Zealand ended subsidies years ago and the Government would never artificially decrease the cost of logs for domestic processors. Nor will it intervene in the exchange rate.
And the New Zealand Wood Processors Association believes the industry is simply rationalising, meaning fewer jobs but more efficient sawmills.
Wood Processors Association CEO Jon Tanner says sawmills are becoming more high-tech, meaning some workers are being upskilled, but fewer staff are needed.
While some sawmills are shutting up shop, others are investing in new facilities and expanding.
