Margules Groome’s quarterly harvest and haulage cost index for Australian plantation operations is based on price indexation mechanisms used by industry, weighted by volume harvested (Figure 1). The previous index for March 2023 showed a rapid decrease in fuel price in the first half of 2023 which despite increases in inflation (CPI), wages and interest rates saw the harvest and haulage cost indices begin to trend downwards.
The New Zealand Government has set a plan in motion to decarbonise the economy with a net zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050. Part of this process involves the development and implementation of emissions reduction plans for energy and industry sectors – the key users of energy for process heat and electricity generation. Other users of fossil fuels (e.g. the transportation sector) are also exploring ways to adopt lower emissions or zero emission fuels and vehicles.
Margules Groome’s Australian Softwood Residual Log Price Index measures domestic softwood plantation residual log prices (excluding exports). The index is a measure of the residual log value to the forest owner once harvest and haulage costs are subtracted from mill door log prices. It is a measure of the forest owners log margins, or the spread between log prices and logistics (delivery) costs. It should be noted that there is no time lag between the indexes as shown.
Margules Groome’s quarterly harvest and haulage cost index for Australian plantation operations is based on price indexation mechanisms used by industry, weighted by volume harvested (Figure 1). The previous index for December 2022 an increase in fuel price as a result of the Federal Government having re-imposed the full fuel excise from late September. But the fuel price increases in the December quarter did not translate to an increase once tax credits and GST were considered, but a decrease. As a result, the harvest and haulage index plateaued. In March fuel prices decreased rapidly and continues to do so in April/May. Consequently, the harvest and haulage index turned downwards – a welcome relief to many.
Forest fires are a significant disturbance and damage agent in both natural and plantation forests. This is most evident in sub-tropical and arid regions that include some of the world’s most important plantation growing areas. Plantations in these regions are at considerable risk of fire damage. This is due to local climatic conditions, the evolutionary history of the plantation forestry species regularly used, and an increasing rural human population (Strydom and Savage, 2016). A myriad of other factors including global heating, the pre-eminence of invasive vegetation, and the variable quality of land management means that the probability of significant fires is likely to be increasing (Forsyth et al., 2010). The impact of the changing climate means that managers in areas that until recently would have deemed the risk of fire damage to be insignificant are now finding that they are faced with an increased threat of forest fires that can be existential for some commercial forestry businesses.