Timber supply chain in Queensland

Growing timber

Timber is sourced from either trees planted and managed specifically for timber and wood production (plantations) or from large tracts of natural forests (native forestry).

Plantation forestry

Around 300,000 hectares of state forests in Queensland are under licence for plantation production, with approximately 200,000 hectares of plantation currently established.

Almost all of these are softwood plantations, with only small areas of hardwood plantations. Small areas of plantations for a range of purposes other than supplying construction materials exist on private freehold land.

Plantations are predominantly located in the coastal, higher rainfall zones of South East and North Queensland.

High-quality softwood timber, from species including southern pines and Queensland araucaria, provide essential construction materials. The versatility and very high strength of Queensland grown softwoods makes them highly sought after.

Native forestry

Across Queensland there are 51.75 million hectares of native forest, established on state forests, on leasehold land and on private freehold land. Across these tenures, approximately 41.9 million hectares can be considered legally available for harvesting however, only a portion of this is considered suitable for commercial forestry.

Of the 41.9 million hectares, approximately 25.7 million hectares is state-owned land and 12.9 million is privately owned land.

Commercial native forestry activity takes place within state-owned native forests which occur on state-owned land, leasehold and freehold land where designated Forest Consent Areas exist. These forests, primarily native hardwood forests, are slow growing but contain significant timber resources.

Queensland's diverse forest types also include cypress open forests and woodlands, located west of the Great Dividing Range in the southern parts of the state, as well as tropical forest resources in the state's north.

Timber processing

A network of sawmills and other primary processing plants operate across regional communities, located within or close to existing forestry resources.

Primary processing produces:

• solid wood products such as sawnwood, poles and girders
• engineered composite products like plywood, medium density fibre board (MDF), laminated beams and posts
• finger-jointed building products such as boards and joinery products.

New technology and modern methods of construction are greatly increasing demand for engineered wood products.

Timber end-use products

Different timber species are grown, harvested and processed for specific end-uses that capitalise on their natural qualities.

While traditional building products make up most end-uses, there is growing demand for new and emerging products.

Construction hardwood uses

• Housing
• Flooring
• Frames
• Fecking
• Cladding
• Joinery
• Benchtops
• Furniture
• Electricity poles
• Bridges
• Wharfs

Plantation softwood end products

• Housing frames
• Flooring
• Lining
• Mouldings
• Laminated beams
• Engineered wood products like MDF, Cross Laminated Timber and plywood

Cypress products

• General framing
• Flooring
• Cladding
• Fencing

Growing demand for innovative uses and zero waste

• Engineered wood products, prefabricated homes, and factory-based manufacturing of components for housing construction
• Products derived from wood residues including for biomass energy, panel boards and furniture
• Products from the whole tree including leaves and oil
• Biofuels

Timber usage in housing

Softwood and hardwood timber are both essential construction materials in housing.

Timber needs vary across building types, with apartments and detached one-to-two storey homes requiring anywhere between 9 and 20-plus cubic metres of timber to complete. Currently around 70% of new houses built in Queensland are detached houses; however, housing formats are changing over time in response to population growth and changing demographics.

On current estimates, based on the amount of timber it takes to build detached and multi-unit housing, Queensland will need up to 14.6 million cubic metres of processed timber to build 1 million more homes by 2044.

Exact volumes will depend on:

• the proportion of high-rise apartments and one-to-two storey detached houses built
• how much steel framing is used within construction going forward.