Read full Sawmilling South Africa – July 2024 Newsletter
We are well over the halfway mark of 2024. Isn’t it amazing how quickly the second half of the year goes by?
After the very sad month experienced by one of our sawmillers, July has been a battle to get at on an emotional level. Our thoughts and prayers are still with the Hoatson family as they get to grips with their loss.
The first few days of July saw a number of those devastating fire-days that emerged out of the blue. Who would have thought that such a severe cold front in the Cape would result in such violent winds up north? This is the kind of weather that you expect in August but not so early in the season.
Our hearts go out to those timber growers in Mpumalanga and KZN who suffered such devastating loss, and this just after a reasonably quiet time last year. Perhaps we should have another look at SA’s entire firefighting strategy. While sawmillers may think that this is simply a grower’s problem, unfortunately fires have an impact on our future timber resource.
POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS IN OUR CHINESE MARKETING EFFORTS AND PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
On a more positive note, our efforts in trying to gain a footing in the Chinese market is looking up. We have to thank the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) and their colleagues in Beijing. The size of the Chinese market is significant however it proves difficult to find an inlet. Hopefully we are making headway and will soon be able to report success.
What have recently learned from our dtic colleagues is “President Ramaphosa Assents to Public Procurement Bill”.
This is good news for us at the association as we have been pushing for this for the last two to three years. Essentially it means that all Government Procurement, besides complying with many other conditions, will need to source from locally SA-grown and produced resources when purchasing materials for government sponsored developments. This will hopefully aid timber sales to all government building contracts, especially housing.
COMING TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU
Our next Talking Timber webinar will take place on 8 August 2024 at 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM. The topic will centre around Exterior Applications for Timber. Tim Rypstra of the University of Stellenbosch and Mariëtte Cooper from TimberLife will share their insight and expertise on the topic.
You can register here.
Till the end of August, don’t forget to keep your mills cutting straight and drying flat.
Until next month
Cheers,
Roy Southey
Executive Director: Sawmilling South Africa
