Signs of an Upturn

There is an unmistakeable whiff of exuberance in the industrious Bay of Plenty air. It is particularly evident at the Port of Tauranga – hit in the past few years by the downturn in the forest industry but now well positioned to handle the long-hoped-for surge in log and wood products exports.

Controversy is now raging across many states and the timber industry is in an uproar as it believes the system discriminates against wood products

With spasmodic fallout continuing from New Zealand’s leaky buildings crisis, the Department of Building and Housing (DBH) clearly feels it would not be politically savvy right now to endorse the benefits of Douglas fir as an untreated framing timber.

Laminated veneer lumber (LVL), relatively speaking, is still a ‘new’ product. From a standing start in the late 1980s, global consumption has increased steadily to reach more than 3 million m3 in 2004 and some analysts predict that the real boom in demand is still to come.

It has come to light that several Australian states are planning to amend wood waste legislation to place greater responsibilities on manufacturers to reduce landfill waste. This will drive initiatives for the recovery and reuse of end-of-life product but there remains the problem of what to do with the treated stuff, as John Halkett reports.

Attendance might have been down, but feedback from March’s New Zealand Forest Industries Exhibition (FI2006) indicates the industry is on the point of recovering some confidence

The Malaysian International Furniture Fair has carved itself a unique position as a top performer in an increasingly cluttered and cut-throat global business.

Design is thousands of years old, and all the world is design. So, maybe we can say that design is the most important thing.