Even as Australia’s softwood log exports have boomed, those from New Zealand have declined quite sharply over the last quarter. For the March quarter of 2017, export log production fell 9.1%, to 3.959 million m3. The fall comes after the record set in the September quarter (4.809 million m3), which was followed by a decline to 4.353 million m3 in the December quarter of 2016.
Compared with the March quarter of 2016, export logs were 1.5% higher in the March quarter of 2017. Indeed, export logs were at their fourth highest quarterly level, as the chart below shows.
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It is by no means certain at this point, but a third successive quarter of falling log exports will provide the evidence of a decided slowdown.
Australia’s softwood log exports have been little short of remarkable across the same periods. Although the chart below shows all of Australia’s exports, softwood logs make up more than 90% of the total across all times.
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On a monthly, quarterly and year-end basis, Australia’s softwood log exports have never been higher, even as our trans-Tasman partners experience an apparent decline.
