Driven largely by shipments of woodchips and logs, the value of Australia’s exports of wood and wood products hit AUD1.407 M for the year ended March 2015. The near continuous run of increases commenced mid-2013, as the Australian Dollar commenced its depreciation against the US Dollar, in which almost all export transactions are denominated.
It was once the case that the majority of hardwood chip sales were denominated in Australian Dollars, but that is reportedly more rare. It is useful to see the influence of woodchips (the blue bar) and roundwood (the yellow bar) on total exports in the following chart.
For the year ended March 2015, Woodchip exports were valued at AUD915.1 M or 65.0% of the total value of exports, while Roundwood (log) exports totaled AUD295.6 M or 21.0% of sales.
Although not all Roundwood is destined to become pulpwood, close to 86% of the value of total exports are linked to supplies to the pulpwood sector. As these are the lowest value exports, the volume proportion destined for that market is significantly higher.
Strong growth in Roundwood sales has been a feature for several years, with the decline that occurred around 2013 being directly related to the high value of the Australian Dollar at that time. Woodchip exports are dominated by hardwood chips from the dedicated hardwood plantation estate of approximately 975,000 hectares.
Both Woodchip and Roundwood exports are exported to continue at near record levels in the short to medium term.