New Zealand’s sawn timber production has a distinctly seasonal pattern to it, as many readers of Statistics Count are aware. In the March quarter of 2016, production totalled 958,000 m3, up 2.9% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. In the mean time, inventory for the same period amounted to 434,000 m3, down a sizeable 15.6% on the prior year. Relatively stable production and decreasing inventories over the period suggest that demand is strong for New Zealand’s sawn timber production.
The chart shows New Zealand’s production and inventories, on a quarterly basis since the March quarter of 2012.
To go straight to the dashboard and take a closer look at the data, click here.
As described at the outset, the seasonal nature of the production cycle is evident in the green line, which displays sawlog removals.
In the March quarter of the current year, sawlog removals totalled 1,728,000 m3, up 2.8% on the March quarter of 2015. This is consistent with the growth in the sawn wood production volume. This adds further to the expectations that demand has grown over the period, or at least through the March quarter, with the reduction in inventory far out-stripping either the harvest or sawn wood production.
We note that the inventory decrease commenced in the December quarter of 2015 and continued on into the March quarter of 2016.
