State Government working to overcome marri dilemma

14/1/03
Forestry Minister Kim Chance has announced trials to develop new marri markets aimed at increasing the opportunities for the unique marri furniture and flooring industry in Western Australia.
Mr Chance said supply for marri furniture and flooring was being held back through lack of suitable resource.
Owing to the high level of defects in the tree, less than 10 per cent of marri logs were produced for manufacturing purposes. These characteristics were being marketed as features and were highly sought after by manufacturers.

"Since the traditional buyer of marri woodchips shifted to alternative species there has been no market for the marri residue," the Minister said.
"This has disrupted silvicultural practices, leading to doubts about the Forest Products Commission's ability to continue to supply adequate quantities of marri timber to WA furniture manufacturers.
"The resolution of market opportunities for marri residue is critical for the future of our value-adding industry."
Mr Chance said a 25-tonne trial shipment had been sent to China for testing and the opportunities for subsequent sales would depend on the trial's results.
Even if the trials were completely successful, sales were not expected to exceed a level of about 20 per cent of historical marri wood-chipping levels.
"If this trial proves successful, we will be able to maximise the use of the marri while improving silvicultural management practices of the regrowth forest," the Minister said.
"The first priority in meeting these management criteria is to produce sawlogs for the local furniture and flooring industry, potentially boosting the industry's value by $8million. This will have an obvious flow-on effect to regional and metropolitan employment and economic benefits.
"Today, natural feature-grade timber from our regrowth forest is prized by designers and manufacturers as the features reflect the history of individual trees.
"Procedures will be implemented to maximise the milling of marri for downstream manufacturing. This will include three stages of checking logs for millable timber: grading in the field; inspection of logs at the chipmill; and recovery of suitable parts of the log for delivery to sawmills."
Minister's office: 9213 6700