If you own a plantation forest, small or large, you are required to pay a levy on the volume of wood material harvested from your forest.  

The Forest Growers Levy Trust (FGLT) is the custodian of this levy money, ensuring it is appropriately spent in areas such as research and development, biosecurity and promotion, for the collective benefit of levy payers and forest growers in New Zealand generally. 

The current levy order is due to expire on 17 November 2025 and is therefore up for renewal.

• Read more about the Harvested Wood Material Commodity Levy
• Read more about the levy and how it helps your forest

Please refer to the attached Levy Vote Grower Booklet for everything you need to know about the levy and how to vote.

Proposed levy rate

Eligible forest growers will have the opportunity to vote on whether to renew the levy for another six years at the rate proposed by the Forest Growers Levy Trust during this year’s Forest Growers Levy Vote: 1 – 31 October 2024.

The current levy rate under the Harvested Wood Material Commodity Levy Order is 33 cents per tonne of harvested wood material. This raises approximately $10 million per year in levy money, depending on harvest volumes.

The Forest Growers Levy Trust has spent eight months consulting with growers in the lead up to the Levy Vote, resulting in an amendment to the levy rate originally proposed (40 – 70 cents) by the Trust earlier in the year. The FGLT also sought growers’ feedback on whether the levy is meeting their needs and how they would like to see it allocated in the years to come. Learn more about the levy consultation process here.

The FGLT wants to thank everyone that took the time to attend these meetings and have their say. Your contributions are vital for ensuring the levy is meeting growers’ needs and helps the FGLT understand how it can best support the sector going forward.

For the upcoming Levy Vote, the FGLT propose a minimum levy rate of 33 cents per tonne of harvested wood material and a maximum levy rate of 45 cents per tonne of harvested wood material (excluding GST) for the 2026 – 2031 levy order period.

The minimum levy rate will be fixed for the first year of the new levy order (until the end of 2026).

For every subsequent year, the FGLT board will fix the levy rate within the 33 to 45 cent range before the start of each levy year. Any proposed increase to the levy rate in any year will not proceed if it would be against the wishes of those likely together to pay more than half of the total levy collected in the year the proposed increase will apply.

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