SAWN TIMBER INDUSTRY WELCOMES AUSTRALIAN

CUSTOMS ANTI-DUMPING INVESTIGATION

 

9th September 2011

Re: Formal Investigation Into Import Timber Pricing

The softwood plantation sawn timber industry today welcomed the Australian Customs Service’s announcement it would formally investigate the industry’s complaints that offshore companies are unfairly dumping structural timber products into the Australian market.

‘Dumping’ is when offshore companies sell products for below their true or normal value and/or cost of production in order to increase market share.  The Australian softwood plantation sawn timber industry - worth more than A$1.5 billion annually in revenue - believes unfair dumping of imported structural products occurred as traditional northern hemisphere markets collapsed. This has slashed the Australian industry’s sales volumes by more than 15 per cent since 2007/08, By contrast, imports from countries under Customs’ investigation rose by 33 per cent over the same period, in a contracting market.

Compared with 2007/08, the Australian industry’s performance is at substantially reduced levels – in terms of sales volumes, operating margins and profitability. The industry directly employs more than 5,500 people in regional Australia with at least another 5,000 contractors, casuals and others dependent on the industry. The regions affected are South East Queensland, Riverina/Murray Valley and Bathurst/Oberon in NSW, Mt Gambier in South Australia, Gippsland in Victoria, and the Bell Bay region of Tasmania.

“As a result of this dumping, the industry has experienced a dramatic reduction in profitability over the last two years, much more than would have occurred if imports were fairly priced,” said Mr Peter Hyne, General Manager at Hyne Timber, a key producer of softwood timber products, based in Queensland.  “The industry is not against competition or imports. But what we want is a sustainable and competitive industry with fair competition. That is ultimately in the interests of all stakeholders and customers.” Mr Hyne said.

Mr Hyne said that while the Australian companies had done all they could to minimise job losses, already the number of employees in the industry had dropped by six per cent over the last three years, not including contractors and casual staff, with more redundancies announced since March.

“If we do not take action now, there will be major long-terms impacts on our industry particularly in regional Australia, already doing it tough because of volatile economic conditions,” Mr Hyne said.

The Customs investigation is in response to an application by three companies which represent 75 per cent of the industry in Australia: Hyne & Sons, Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts Australia and Gunns Ltd.

For further information call Amanda Buckley 0419 801 349 or Nick Maher 0408 386414