Portable sawmills in a high-value rainforest cabinet timber industry in North Queensland

David Smorfitt; Steve R Harrison; John L Herbohn

doi:10.1007/s11842-003-003-9

Back

Portable sawmills in a high-value rainforest cabinet timber industry in North Queensland

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Portable sawmills in a high-value rainforest cabinet timber industry in North Queensland

David Smorfitt, Steve R Harrison and John L Herbohn

Small-scale Forest Economics, Management and Policy, Vol.2(1), pp.21-36

2003

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-003-003-9

Files and links (1)

url

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-003-003-9View

Published Version

Abstract

Forestry Sciences

Applied Economics

Policy and Administration

cabinet timber industry

north Queensland

portable sawmills

rainforest

This paper examines the role and use of portable sawmills in north Queensland. Using a semi-structured questionnaire and personal interviews, the opinions of 18 operators of portable and fixed-site sawmills were canvassed on a number of issues including main problems faced by the local industry, current sources of timber, sawn timber recovery rates of their operations, willingness to purchase new milling and other equipment, opinions about why (or if) portable sawmills can sell timber at a lower cost than fixed-site mills, and destinations of sawn timber milled. The most critical issues faced by sawmillers were the lack of resource security and competing products, in particular competition from imported tropical timbers from neighbouring island countries including Papua New Guinea. Most sawmillers in north Queensland currently obtain logs mainly from private landholdings and are hesitant to invest in new equipment due to concerns about future log supplies. This paper also explores the current and potential role of portable sawmills in the regional small-scale forestry industry. An examination of policy issues suggests that there may be a need for new legislation to cover employees, sawn timber consumers and sawmillers themselves. The future role of portable sawmills may require a co-operative approach that emphasizes low volume value-adding, due to the decreasing supply of logs in North Queensland.

Details

Title: Portable sawmills in a high-value rainforest cabinet timber industry in North Queensland
Authors: David Smorfitt (Author) - James Cook University
Steve R Harrison (Author) - University of Queensland
John L Herbohn (Author) - University of Queensland
Publication details: Small-scale Forest Economics, Management and Policy, Vol.2(1), pp.21-36
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Date published: 2003
DOI: 10.1007/s11842-003-003-9
ISSN: 1873-7617
Organisation Unit: Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Research Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99451059302621
Output Type: Journal article

Metrics

379 Record Views