Following extensive consultation with FWPA members and associate members, FWPA and ABARES have now agreed upon and entered into a new two-year joint work plan.
Consultation with members showed strong support for the recently completed 2018-2021 FWPA/ABARES workplan, as well as a recognised need to continue this arrangement into the future. The consultation process also brought forward new ideas that have been included in the new FWPA/ABARES 2022-24 Workplan.
The cost to industry for this two-year program is approximately $500,000, with ABARES providing funding of $250,000 over the same period.
This work program will contribute towards making more forestry data available in a timely manner and ensure stakeholders have access to domestic production, trade data and resource base information with a narrative/analysis supporting the data published.
The desired outcome of this work program is to deliver unbiased, evidence-based forestry related analysis and statistics that can be used to inform industry and support the department’s forest policy development.
Below is a summary of key projects that will be delivered through the workplan over the next two years:
Biannual Australian Forest and Wood Products Statistics and monthly trade data provision
ABARES twice-yearly publication, Australian forest and wood product statistics (AFWPS) is highly regarded by both government and industry. The publication reports on key indicator of activity in the forestry sector such as the value and volume of logs harvested, changes in Australia’s commercial plantation estate, forest sector employment, the performance of the wood product manufacturing sector, data on new housing commencements and the trade of wood products.
ABARES will continue to publish a brief overview of key economic indicators, summary tables in excel format, a Power BI data visualisation and detailed trade data in excel format. The 2022-23 May/June AFWPS will also report on key Socio-economic indicators based on the ABS 2021 Census.
ABARES will also provide monthly trade statistics to FWPA to publish on the industry data dashboard.
National wood processing survey
The National Wood Processing Survey will provide information on structural changes in Australia’s wood processing industry. ABARES will survey Australia’s wood processors in October 2022 to obtain up-to-date mill-specific data on production, mill inputs and employment to support effective government policies and enhance understanding of the role the sector plays in the national forestry sector value chain.
The survey will provide a snapshot of the wood processing industry’s current structure, the amount and source of logs for processing and the efficiency of log processing. The survey also includes questions on employment, processing costs, past and future investments, and perceptions on the future outlook.
ABARES wood processing survey aims to be as close to a census of the sector as possible, with careful attention paid to representation from small, medium, and large hardwood and softwood wood processors. If the sample of returned surveys is not complete, ABARES will review the sample to determine its representativeness of the sector and may undertake additional outreach to capture returns from the unrepresentative classes. ABARES in-house statisticians will provide advice on best practice weighting of results to ensure robust findings are presented in the final report.
Tabular Plantation survey updates
Australia’s annual plantation statistics report is a key publication to inform changes in the wood production resource base. The annual tabular update is a supporting data set to the comprehensive 5-yearly spatial update.
The value of the annual data set is to provide information on softwood and hardwood plantation areas and provide a baseline of national, state, and regional statistics that can be used to inform forest policy and industry investment.
Forum Project
The Forest Resource Use Model (FoRUM) will be used to undertake a yet to be determined analysis of the forest industry. Potential topics that could be assessed using FoRUM include the impact of climate change, carbon price scenarios or plantation expansion. The final project will be agreed to by ABARES and FWPA, with FWPA bringing together a working group to help determine industry interest and project direction.
FoRUM is ABARES’ in-house optimisation model of the Australian forestry sector. FoRUM is designed to model the entire forestry sector from plantation investment and harvest to the final sale of wood products in domestic and international markets. The model simultaneously optimises all of Australia’s forest regions, considering existing and future availability of logs for harvest, the capacity of existing processing infrastructure, the opportunities and costs for plantation and processing investment.
5-year outlook report
ABARES will publish a 5-year outlook report for the value, volume and price of Australia’s forestry domestic production and exports. The report will focus on the volume and value of hardwood and softwood logs sourced from plantations and native forests. These will be influenced by domestic and international demand and price of final wood products. The report will factor in how changes to the outlook may affect Australian forest growers and the value of their production. Important risks to the outlook will be considered and discussed in the report.
Analysis/understanding of potential data sources
ABARES will undertake a project to determine if there are any other administrative datasets that could be utilised by ABARES forest economics to supplement/support existing ABARES data. Administrative data could be sourced from the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Levies division, FWPA, other state agencies or industry. Potentially ABARES could enter agreements with other data holders to share data or combine data requests to reduce survey burden.
