Wood Quality: A Perspective from New Zealand

Forest products are commodities and subject to cyclical trends; yet resource-hungry countries offer exporters a period of sustained growth for those with the right products. Products have their distinctive requirements, e.g., finishing timber (colour, stability), structural (strength stiffness, stability), paper (fibre length and tear strength). The failure to incorporate such key properties in radiata pine (Pinus radiata) breeding programmes has been a lost opportunity for New Zealand forestry that constrains exports. Radiata pine remains a utilitarian, undifferentiated commodity. A complementary opportunity in international markets lies in naturally-durable eucalypts grown on New Zealand’s east coast drylands. These are species whose properties mimic those of the finest tropical hardwoods that are in most demand in Asian markets.