If you have been following the news lately or been renovating your home, you will know that currently New Zealand is facing a Timber shortage.
Buying specific pieces of wood has become harder as the weeks go by and are reported to get increasingly harder.
New Zealand is not the only place facing timber shortages, places like America, Australia, Russia and the UK are also reporting storages.
Why are there timber shortages?
There are many reasons why after 20 years of no problems in the timber industry that there is suddenly a shortage. Many people have different ideas of how this all can to be.
Here is what we know:
Exporting Timber
Many kiwis believe that the exportation of timber to other countries is the reason for the timber shortage. New Zealand mills export 60% of their logs, leaving 40% for New Zealand.
Our timber mills have been very fortunate to have log exporting agreements with China as they have been profitable to the New Zealand economy, due to the fact that China pays more for the timber, bringing money into New Zealand and more jobs for the locals.
However, Phil Taylor, President of the Forest Owners Association, has stated that it is not the China exports that have caused the timber storage, it is mostly caused by the building boom that resulted due to covid. He also believes that “The WPMA is using a completely unrelated framing timber shortage to try to get government support for intervening against exports which is the type of move the entire primary sector completely rejected last year. “ This would be to gain profit from the mills biggest 1990s harvest.
Many mills have also pointed out that the exported timber is different to the wood they keep in New Zealand, therefore there has never been overlap.
Carter Holt Harvey, has also stated that “the shortage was short term and industry wide caused by a huge timber appetite as well as CHH’s difficulties with upgrading capacity at its Kawerau mill.”
Therefore, even though timber is exported in larger qualities, rather than being kept local, this is not the sole problem for the timber storage.
Home Building Increases
Another reason New Zealand has a wood storage is due to the increasing homes being built and the increase in renovations.
Many economists believe that since people are unable to travel due to covid-19, their focus and savings are being placed in their homes. Resulting in more homes being renovated and returning citizens looking to build homes.
The building sector has been said to have increased 6.6% and that’s just the beginning, as more homes are being built every month to fix the Auckland housing crisis.
Covid-19, Panic Buying and Rising Timber Prices
Since lockdown, the timber storages have become increasingly worse. As soon as lockdown was over timber started to become harder to find.
Builders would have to go to multiple stores to find different timber supplies for one job when before they used one store to purchase everything.
Builders now have to go on waiting lists, order stocks in advance and wait a few months for supplies to arrive, slowing down work and extending job completion dates.
The struggle to find timber resulted in some companies’ panic buying large stock whenever they got the chance and storing it, creating even more demand in the market.
On top of all this, timber prices have increased 15% to 18%.
Many companies believe that the price increase is due to the exporting of logs to China for a high price, meaning China is essentially setting the timber prices for NZ as well.
Mills closing down
Likewise, the timber shortage has increased due to 5 sawmills closing down in the past two years. Resulting in an estimated 400,000 cubic meters of production being stopped.
Will this storage effect the building of my timber fence?
Timber storage problems only slows down the building of your fence if the timber has to be waited on.
We have been very fortunate to have had only one fence put on hold for a day but were able to get the supplies the next day and complete the fence on time.
If we do run into problems with obtaining the timber for your fence at one store, our builders will go to many different hardware stores and suppliers until they find the timber that your fence needs.
Overall, your fence will be built but may have a delay of an extra day or two if timber needs to be retrieved from a far store.
Call us today if you need a timber fence installed in the Auckland Region.
Our team will work hard to get your timber fence built and completed on time.
Go here for all our services.
Source: NZFFA
