Exports of softwood logs from Australia continued to soften throughout the second half of 2018, with total exports of 3.562 million m3 for the full calendar year. This was down 8.5% on 2017 and…

A new report by ABARES indicates that Australia needs to increase the softwood plantation estate over coming years if Australia is to meet the demand for softwood sawlogs by 2050. With contin…

New Zealand’s plantation harvest reached a new quarterly record of 9.681 million m3 in the September quarter of 2018. Driven by record removals of Export logs (5.767 million m3) and Sawlogs (…

Retail sales declined by 0.4% in December, as Australian consumers shopped early, shopped late or simply didn’t shop at all in the lead up to Christmas 2018. The worse than expected result saw…

Australian wages growth continues to be well below the average, despite improving in 2018. At 2.3% for the year, average wages growth is languishing behind the long-term average of 3.2% per a…

If you are going to stay awake at night worrying, it ought to be over big issues. Right now, the potent intertwining of dwelling approvals (softening), house prices (tumbling) and wages (stag…

Australia’s imports of wood and wood products were valued at an all time record AUD2.245 billion in 2018, up a very large 18.8% compared with 2017. The sixth successive annual increase in impo…

The March quarter 2019 softwood product sales forecasts show a market retreating from its previous peaks, while the December quarter actual declines were more aggressively than the foreca…