Tasmania's public forestry enterprise recorded its lowest product sales in seven years and has again fallen short of its legislated sawlog quota, but both major parties remain committed to keeping the quota in place.
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Sustainable Timber Tasmania released its 2020/21 annual report on Thursday which showed $102 million in revenue from forest product sales, down from $147 million 12 months earlier and $150 million the year before that.
Legislation requires STT to make 137,000 cubic metres of high quality eucalypt sawlogs available per year, but it again fell short of this target with 115,000 of eucalypt and 8800 cubic metres of special species timber.
It was another reduction from the past two years, although an earlier annual report outlined an expectation that regrown eucalyptus nitens would take the available level above 137,000 from about 2025.
Despite the revenue drop, STT reported a net profit of $1.7 million.
The annual report outlines how STT is revising its seed zoning systems to "better manage future forest health and resilience".
There was no mention of any upcoming attempt to gain Forest Stewardship Council certification after a 2019 audit against FSC guidelines found 10 major issues to rectify. STT chief executive officer Steve Whiteley earlier foreshadowed another attempt in "a couple of years time" once changes in practices had taken effect.
The Tasmanian Greens attempted to have the sawlog quota repealed earlier this week describing it as "mandated forest destruction", which was rejected by the government and Labor.
"If we repeal the minimum sawlog quota as a path towards ending native forest logging in this state, we will give young people real hope," Greens leader Cassy O'Connor said.
Last month, Labor resources spokesperson Shane Broad questioned the government about the impact failing to meet the sawlog quota could be having on smaller country sawmills.
He said larger sawmills relied on category 1 logs, but if this supply was not being met, they could start moving into the category 2 log pool which would hurt smaller players.
"We know a number of these country saw millers have had their contracts only extended for two years, so that will run out roughly in time for the Sustainable Yield Report comes out," Dr Broad said.
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"What I suspect is they're going to do over the country saw millers in one way or another to make up for those supply gaps in their 137,000 cubic metres for the contracts that are out to 2027.
"So you've got contracts that end in 2023, you've got an extra four years on those other contracts. It seems like you're lining up the country saw millers."
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Resources Minister Guy Barnett described these as "operational matters".
He said the STT annual report showed the enterprise achieved a profit for the fourth year in a row.
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