Economic Impact

Industry Report Confirms: Native Forest Logging Unpopular and Unprofitable

This media release concerns a report, ‘Socio-economic impacts of the forest industry Western Australia’, commissioned by Forest & Wood Products Australia, found that native forest logging and processing provides less than a quarter of the total jobs in WA’s timber industry, with the vast majority of timber jobs (76 per cent) found in WA’s hardwood and softwood plantation industries.

Barking up the wrong trees: WA’s Forest Products Commission (FPC) and the performance of its native forestry

The WA FPC has received more financial support from government than it has generated in profit. FPC’s native forestry operations have posted repeated losses, and log quality and forest values have steadily declined. Relatively few people are employed in native forestry. A plan for transition would protect both forests and state finances.