NZ urged to build $1b pulp mill

Friday 30 Mar 2012

 
A United States forestry expert is recommending New Zealand build a $1 billion "mega-mill" to meet China's hunger for wood pulp. Richard Phillips, of North Carolina State University, and a former executive with International Paper, told the ForestWood 2012 conference in Wellington last week that China's demand for logs and wood pulp would continue to soar.

"Logs will always have a home in China, your lumber and plywood probably won't. Your paper and paperboard probably won't. Because those are the kinds of things that China would like to produce themselves."

Phillips said there was room for a country to build a huge modern softwood mill to meet China's projected needs and New Zealand was one of the two best-positioned wood-exporting countries to do it. But it would be a $1b investment, a cost that would be offset by producing its own energy and high-value chemicals.

Phillips said if New Zealand was serious, it could probably do the feasibility study in a year but it had to move fast. Phillips' "mega-mill" model – which would take about 5 million of the current 25m cubic metre harvest – surprised many in the industry, which is largely geared up for solid wood production.

Source: Stuff


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