Australia’s exports of roundwood – logs – totaled 3,832,087 m3 for the year-ended August 2016, a massive 41.1% increase on the prior year. To put that into perspective, the total increase is more than 1.1 million m3 over just a year. Softwood log exports continue to dominate, accounting for 90.2% of total exports for the year, but hardwood log exports experienced the larger increase, growing 160.2% over the year.
The chart below shows the extent of the recent growth in exports.
To go straight to the dashboard and take a closer look at the data, click here.
Industry continues to report expectations of further growth in log exports, but of course, at the same time, there is speculation about where the limit might be. This is especially relevant for the already large volume of softwood log exports, which have grown at a very strong 34.7% over the year to the end of August 2016.
At 3,455,965 m3, softwood log exports appear set to grow to something close to 3.7 million m3 by the end of 2016. This is based on the ‘rolling out’ of the later months of 2015, with clear expectations of continuing strength in the ‘rolling in’ months.
Should that occur and the hardwood log exports continue at their current levels, exports of roundwood are going to top 4 million m3 some time soon.
