Galician Timber Industry: still standing, sir

Galician Timber Markets: Eucalyptus, one step forward... in 2010

Gustavo Iglesias Trabado
GIT Forestry Consulting SL - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal - www.git-forestry.com - EUCALYPTOLOGICS

Once again and thanks to the kind input from Fearmaga, the Asociación Galega Monte Industria, the Cluster de la Madera de Galicia & Feceg, we can explore the medium term aftermath of the Spanish version of the global financial crisis and its impact on sustainable timber harvests and the productivity of the Galician timber industry during 2010.

After the historical record of 2008 and the noticeable crash experienced during 2009, Galician timber harvests have recovered during 2010, growing a 12% from 6.15 million cubic metres (including the bulk of non effectively harvested Klaus stormwood) to 6.85 million cubic meters. Timber sale operations, a direct injector of liquid capital into the small rural investor economies, have reached noticeable figures once again: during 2010 up to 33.000 timber sales have been performed by small individual tree growers and commonland timber management organizations, which are indeed the private owners of over 96% of Galician forestlands.

These private and small investors in the production of renewable, recyclable and organic primary resources, as timber is, have managed, once more by sustainably cultivating less than 2% of the acreage of Spain, to produce over 50% of Spanish roundwood output.

Fig. 1: Galician Timber Resource & Sustainable Roundwood Harvest 2010: hardwoods cover a 63% of total afforested area and yielded 55% of the Galician timber harvest, softwoods cover a 36% of total afforested area and yielded 45% of the Galician timber harvest in 2010. Planted forests yielded nearly the total of timber harvests in Galicia during 2010, relieving almost totally the pressure of industrial wood demand from non planted forests. [A larger version of this graphic summary is available from GIT Forestry Consulting upon request (just contact us)]

Galician timber harvest figures have followed during 2010 the main general trend of the last decades: +95% of total roundwood volume is sourced from planted forests, and of this total volume two sub-types prevail: different pine timbers, and different eucalypt timbers. During 2010 and continuing the 2009 inertia, the previously increasing trend for specialty hardwood harvests (oak, birch, chestnut, cherry, etc), which reached up to 5% of overall volume in 2008, has crashed down due to, and excepting the case of some high grade lumbers and luxury wood uses in very small amounts, the lower performance and higher production costs of these locally produced hardwoods as material source for the dominant (most demanding volume wise) industrial lines.

Fig. 2: Sustainable timber harvest operations in one of the different Galician softwood planted forests types yielding roundwood for over 10 different industrial segments, including sawmilling, board & panels and high quality furniture making industrial processes. Galician softwood harvests roughly mean a 20% of the total annual timber output of Spain. (Click image to enlarge)

The still existent paralysis of the building sector in Spain has also kept the demand of those processed timbers and technical timber products necessary in times of normal levels of activity in lower than usual levels, and, consequently, industrial production in these market segments has adjusted. Backwards in the supply chain, this factor, combined with others, has meant that one of the main primary sources for these organic and renewable materials, timber harvests from softwood planted forests, have not experienced a major change in harvested volume terms compared to 2009, recovering a 9% compared to 2009 levels but still remaining at an equivalent of 80% of the harvest peak in 2008 even with that increase.

Fig. 3: Galician Timber Industry Results 2010, a report by the Galician Timber Contractors & Sawmillers Association, the Galician Forest Industry Association, the Galician Cluster for Wood & the Galician Federation of Carpentry & Cabinet Making Professionals. Download the full report [PDF 813 KB]

In other words, the only timber fraction significantly impacting positively in the whole sector during 2010, from small timber selling individual tree growers to end of industrial line, has been eucalypt hardwood. Only set back in 2009 due to the important volumes of eucalypt stormwood caused by Hurricane Klaus, Galicia has experienced a quick recovery in eucalypt timber harvests to reach a 97% of the historical 2008 peak harvest during 2010. So, nearly another historical peak harvest for eucalypt timber after over 500 years of exotic tree growing and harvesting in Northern Spain.

Fig. 4: Eucalyptus globulus: noble wood of Galicia. For over 50 years, eucalypt planted forests have been one of the very few available timber resources in Spain able to provide raw timber as to prepare 25 meter long solidwood pieces, a traditional industry based on timber knowledge and expert handling of this Galician adopted Australian timber from tree harvest to final processing at sawmill. Some uses of this timber support the employment of up to 10.ooo Galician people in other key sectors of the economy. (Click play to watch a video depicting on site preparation of long wood beams "madera maciza" in a harvest coupe of Galicia, Northwestern Spain)

This means that, for the third time in their nearly 200 years of cultivation history, eucalypts have become the most important timber group fraction for overall timber harvests in Galicia, and by extension, as Galicia supplies roughly 50% of Spanish yearly roundwood output, for the whole nation. The versatility of these Galician adopted Aussie timbers has positively impacted once again all the main industrial lines, and a surprising trend has emerged even for industrial processing not widely associated by the average Joe to this type of timbers: for the first time in history, the main hardwood lumber type used by the Galician sawmilling industry is sustainably produced Eucalyptus wood sourced from planted forests.

Fig. 5: During 2010, Galician organically grown Eucalyptus timber sourced from planted forests has become the most used hardwood lumber type for the Galician sawmilling industry, surpassing the processed volume of all other locally harvested hardwoods (oak, chestnut, cherry, etc.) combined. This type of local industrial segment starts in a locally grown tree and adds value for a whole local processing chain that ends up in luxury furniture exports and solidwood applications for structural uses, generating the highest amount of added value on timber products per unit of processed timber in Galicia that is fully injected in the regional economy (Click image to enlarge)

Interesting trend indeed, considering that Galician Eucalyptus harvests mean figures in the range of 25% of the total timber harvested annually in Spain, and that, besides its well recognized quality for the pulp & paper industrial segments, it is also increasingly used in board & panel segments, and also in saw-milling segments. Part of the later products, due to their quality and outstanding beauty, are consistently exported and, not being as directly dependent on the currently reduced activity of the Spanish building sector as some alternatives, have hence become a relatively safe haven in times of general contraction of the regional solidwood industry.

It is not too adventurous then to say that, after the maelstrom of the global financial crisis deeply impacted the economies of the whole world, affecting Galicia too, impacts on the timber industry were impossible to avoid, and considering the particularities of Spanish economy, the aftermath of the crisis still lingers on Spain and its Timber Reserve and will probably stay with us all for a while. However, a first tiny step, or good sign of the start of a recovery, has already happened. And one of the main drivers of such happening during 2010 has been... Galician eucalypt timber.

It is not so surprising then that, independently on whatever funding restrictions for afforestation caused by the lack of credit to the different governments of the EU, Spain or Galicia may exist... whatever the right or wrongs of public support to sustainable productive activities as tree growing is... and independently on whatever artificial conflict of interests created and maintained by whatever ignorant urbanite... 600.000 small tree growers of Galicia have taken their own step forward: some 40 million € of their own money, which grew on trees during the last decades and was harvested in 2010, is to be invested again during 2011 to start a new timber growing cycle by planting dozens of millions more trees. Why? Because they know, and you should know by now too, that you harvest what you sow.

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Eucalyptus: Planted Forests, World Forests & Global Timber Supply (II)

30,000,000 new "invasive alien weed" trees... what a "catastrophe"... or not...

Gustavo Iglesias Trabado
GIT Forestry Consulting SL - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal - www.git-forestry.com - EUCALYPTOLOGICS - [Versión en Español, PDF 650 Kb]

It is spring again in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it arrives the main tree planting season for 2011 in some of those areas of the world that, as Galicia in Northwestern Spain, devote significant annual public and private investments to the traditional cyclic production of organic, sustainable & renewable primary resources: timber crops.

After a historical top timber harvest during 2008 reaching 8 million cubic meters, year 2009 had seen a contraction of activity in which the effects of increased stormwood availability (Event Klaus) & the general effects of the global financial crisis and its aftermath on Spanish economy were two of the key factors. Year 2010 however was a recovery year for timber harvests, and the awaited start of the reactivation of local and regional timber trade was coincident with the entry of a noticeable amount of standing timber volumes, existent thanks to an ongoing for decades effort for the creation of planted forests, into the "harvestable age class".

Fig 1: Galicia is the Timber Reserve of Spain, and the source for 50% of Spanish yearly sustainable roundwood supply. A 95% of Galician yearly timber harvest is sourced from planted forests belonging to 600,000 families of Galician people who invest in sustainable natural resource production. A larger version of this graphic summary is available from GIT Forestry Consulting upon request (just contact us).

As a result, dozens of thousands of Galician family economies associated to tree crops cashed once more on their private investments in timber crops during 2010, and, after injecting part of that cash into the rural economies of the country, contributing once more to rural development, reserved part of their income to, once more, renew the sustainable production cycle of organic fibers that will become an array of different renewable and recyclable timber products in the next 10 to 30 years, while their act as carbon sinks, recycling solar energy and one of the concerning elements increasingly emitted by human activity worldwide into natural products.

Fig 2: Example of two generations of Galician tree growers assessing the performance of their Eucalyptus planted forests, established by private initiative in that area the Iberian Peninsula during a trend lasting 130 years, source of sustainable timber harvests for diverse end uses since establishment. (Click image to enlarge).

Apparently, during late 2010 and ongoing 2011 the demand for planting stock has skyrocketed compared to previous years, particularly for the main commercial timber producing species for a range of different industrial lines and which are at once generators of income to some 600.000 families of tree growers: several types of pine trees & several types of eucalypt trees. It seems very likely that Galician tree growers have decided to invest over 40 million € of their own during 2011 in eucalypt tree planting, which seems to be a blooming privately funded sustainable agrobusiness for some decades now, to the point that eucalypt tree planting has not been promoted by the injection of public subsidies in Galicia for over 20 years, while, during the same period, eucalypt logs harvested in Galicia have managed to become a 25% of total yearly harvested timber production for the whole of Spain.

Some of these magnitudes seem to have also excited the minds of an overwhelmingly minoritary amount of Galician & non Galician native peoples who, for an equivalent period of time, have been devoting their efforts and the money of donations & public subsidies to keep an artificially created social conflict alive: the random public promotion of a handful of selectively chosen options among an array of several dozen local crops based on the cultivation of non native plant & animal species adopted by Galician people along centuries as "the source of all evils". Nothing new, as that one is also a long time running business delivering wages or profit to an insignificant percent of the population of Spain, without it meaning a remotely significant injection of capital into the critically important populations of the regional rural economies, whose members are, by living in 2000 year old human-created landscapes, the only ones able to preserve them and/or modify them, and with them, their 2000 year old human-modified inherited biodiversity.

Fig 3: Up to five generations of Galician tree growers have, by private initiative, been continuously cultivating Eucalyptus planted forests for commercial timber production for at least 130 years, being one of the longest running existing examples worldwide of the long term sustainability of eucalypt tree farming, as the same or improved variations of the original crop management systems remain, in spite of recent rural abandonment, yet common in the same areas where they were first implemented. (Click image to enlarge).

So, a "30 million extra weeds" catchphrase, associated to false concepts, half truths, exaggerated non generalized truths, or plain lies was concocted once more to attempt a justification of the existence of non existent generalized potential environmental effects, instantly classified as negative environmental impacts by a minority, be them positive or negative and regardless of their existence, their spatial or temporal degree of existence when and if they exist, or their degree of reversibility, all these standard concepts applied worldwide for serious environmental impact assessment.

Not around here, possibly, and excepting an interesting amount of excellent individuals in scientific or academic spheres of environmental sciences, thanks to the low generalized ethical standards and low scientific and technical performance of a minority of those first enrolling in disciplines related to ecology, plant biology and biodiversity conservation and later trying to apply that knowledge to the real world out there... without having a good general picture of how the real world out there has worked for centuries.

Fig 4: What do 30 Million Planted Eucalyptus trees mean? A Graphic Comparison of Land Covered with Eucalyptus Natural & Planted Forests in the World (2011). (Click image to enlarge). A larger version is available from GIT Forestry Consulting upon request (just contact us). [Para ver una versión en español, haga click aquí].

Since British chemist James Lovelock and US microbiologist Lynn Margulis coined the Gaia Hypothesis & Theory back in the 1970's, the jump from science to social activism in what to environmentalism refers has been steady, sprouting philosophies first, creeds later, and business infrastructures associated to the previous in the end, totally, partially or fractionally inspired by the concept of "the big ecosystem made of tiny ecosystems full of biodiversity we must preserve in their integrity at all costs", which, for many misguided, forgot to include men and human activities as part of it, or that for a minority of other misguided, included both of these but under a veil of hate and an elitist gambit to a neo-primitivism that the majority of such minority has never practiced, and will never do.

The question of the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem function preservation as keystone to attempt securing the survival of the species (HUMAN species) in the longer term is beyond reasonable discussion. But what some frequently forget, or simply refuse to understand, is that the key human activities that could pose a risk to the survival of the species cannot be assessed but when seeing the whole picture of the ecosystem, "at Gaia level", so to speak.

And, using the telescope for second, what can we see (Fig. 4) when we look at the meaning of "planting 30 million trees" at the only reasonable level as to assess the global importance of any potential environmental impact generated or to be generated by those trees? That a broad initial estimation of the level of significance of any potential negative environmental impact generated by the cultivation of 30 million eucalypt trees in Galicia is... "very sorry, insignificant for the ecosystem".

Now, if those same 30 million planted trees can eco-efficiently generate organic, renewable and recyclable materials, as timber products are... built upon non pollutant solar energy while removing carbon from the atmosphere... which are at once suitable for a responsible use by the human being, including you, me, Dr. Margulis, Dr. Lovelock, the 600,000 Galician families who grow the trees, up to 3,000,000 Galician people who use the products & services generated by these or other trees... or any of the 3,000,000,000 extra human beings predicted to walk on the surface of the planet in 40 years (less than 1 harvest cycle for some tree crops) and who will demand those same natural products being generated by the planted trees as we speak... if those 30 million trees I repeat, are not of your taste... that is also irrelevant for the ecosystem. But it is quite likely that your grandsons will also say "thank you for helping avoid the catastrophe" around year 2050 to those planting them today and in the incoming years between now and then.

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2011 Japan Earthquake: Impacts on Pulp & Paper Industry (III)

2011 Japan Earthquake Aftermath: Tsunami Impacted Pulp & Paper Mills... Re-Building

Gustavo Iglesias Trabado
GIT Forestry Consulting SL - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal - www.git-forestry.com - EUCALYPTOLOGICS

Three weeks after Japan was hit by the Great Tohoku Earthquake & Tsunami of March 2011 the efforts to overcome the worst for those damaged infrastructures and those impacted industrial hubs have been continuous, at the same time the overwhelming situation has forced Japan to cope simultaneously with a human catastrophe, a nuclear threat, an energy crisis & a heavily impacted logistics network spreading on an significant area of Honshū island, particularly in the Northeast.

We have previously outlined how the catastrophe has impacted the Japanese Pulp & Paper industry, according to reports of the companies experiencing direct damage in their industrial complexes, and according to analysts continuously monitoring the situation from several areas of the world to try to work out what the impacts could be for the global timber industry & supply chain. The general current consensus seems to be that Japan's dense network of pulp and paper mills, spreading all over the archipelago, has only been effected temporarily and in a localized fashion, being the short term loss of production capacity in the order of 10% total effective capacity of the previous years.

Also outlined, the impact of the earthquake, but maybe more importantly, the impact of the tsunami on the Japanese network of major & special shipping ports, some of which have been nearly destroyed or will probably not be normally operating in the short or medium term, and some of which are directly involved in forest products trade, be it internal movements of supplies and products, be it international export-import operations dealing on several strategic industrial sectors, including the timber industry activity.

Fig 1: 03/2011 Great Tōhoku Earthquake & Tsunami Impact on Japanese Pulp & Paper Industry: Tsunami Affected Japanese Pulp & Paper Mills and Forest Products Ports: Case Study 02 - NPG (March 29th 08:00 CET). Larger versions are available from GIT Forestry Consulting upon request (just contact us).

Even if the general prospects are then of significant but not critical damage for the Japanese Pulp & Paper industry as a whole, the virulence of the catastrophe in localized areas of Miyagi, Fukushima & Ibaraki Prefectures has left us all with impressive images of damaged infrastructure in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophe. This now includes high detail visual outlooks at the effected pulp & paper industrial hubs, and nearby forest products ports in some of the worst damaged areas.

RISI, the leading information provider for the global forest products industry, has reported yesterday that some of the Japanese Pulp & Paper Groups have had to categorically dismiss rumours about their mills being a wreck & not going to restart operations due to catastrophic damage. It seems that market panic has not much reason to be: pulp & paper mills are not Fukushima-type reactors, and it is always too soon to put coffins on them. Nothing better to check that up if rumours are true or not than taking a peek to the situation on the mills at bird's sight (except being right there in the ongoing efforts to clean up the mess, of course).

High Detail Satellital Imagery of the aftermath of the tsunami has been recently produced & kindly provided by the Mountain View Heroes at Google Inc. after the flyover of some interesting robotic birds of NASA, allowing the preparation of reasonably updated damage reports for the main impacted pulp & paper mills and their associated port infrastructures.

Fig 2: 03/2011 Great Tōhoku Earthquake & Tsunami Impact on Japanese Pulp & Paper Industry: Tsunami Affected Japanese Pulp & Paper Mills and Forest Products Ports: Case Study 02 - NPG (March 29th 08:00 CET). A Giant Size High Detail version able to be printed in sizes up to 400 x 200 cm is available from GIT Forestry Consulting upon request (just contact us).

Even if the general outlook equates a total mess, which is not surprising when waves of 10 meters height run over sea defenses and flood your factory with unprecedented force, mooring ships inland and moving impressive volumes of logs, chips, some building, and noticeable amounts of pulp & paper bales first towards the hinterland and later back offshore... it is maybe illustrative to think of any Japanese industrial complex as a Shogun Castle: if the outer gates are overwhelmed, the walls are breached, the stables burnt... and a wave of madness surrounds you... no total disaster happens if the storm does not reach the keep.

Still, even if the cores of such daily ballet-dancing complex industrial activity in each pulp & paper mill that was interrupted because of the shake & wave would last because of heavy damage to some of its parts... it is also maybe illustrative to keep in mind that current engineering features allow the build up of a brand new world class mill in less than 18 months from scratch, something that seems unlikely to be necessary for at least several of the Japanese cases, in which cleaning up and repairing seem to be the most likely actions taking place.

In addition, it has been confirmed to Eucalyptologics that expert task forces of pulp & paper engineers have been assembled after arrivals from overseas, and that these teams are now operating in joint efforts with Japanese engineers to repair damage and start the re-building process in several of the worst affected mills. The complexity of the task is no doubt impressive, but Japanese pulp & paper mill operators were stoically proceeding to the clean up of the big mess since the very moment the wave finally retreated, and have not stopped since then.

Fig 3: 03/2011 Great Tōhoku Earthquake Impact on Japanese Pulp & Paper Industry: Tsunami Affected Japanese Forest Products Ports & Timber Industry Logistics Summary Map, a preliminary outlook at import-export infrastructures affected (March 21th 21:00 CET). A larger version is available from GIT Forestry Consulting upon request (just contact us).

So, maybe the key question is not anymore "will the mills restart operations or not"... but "when will they restart operations". A time factor. Only time can answer that question at the moment. But, even if you have reasonable doubts on the implications of each possibility, it is maybe important to remember that "rebuilding" is probably a term at least as common and embeded in Japanese minds as "building". Lads, it is not Sparta. It is Japan, Land of Shoguns... and Zaibatsu.

*End of Update*

We will try to keep you updated with any available information as soon as possible in GIT Forestry's blog, but you can also reach Eucalyptologics updates via Twitter and Facebook.

"Don't give up the hope"

Also at EUCALYPTOLOGICS...

2011 Japan Earthquake & Tsunami: Damage & Impacts on Pulp & Paper Industry (I): Mills

2011 Japan Earthquake & Tsunami: Damage & Impacts on Pulp & Paper Industry (II): Imports, Exports & Ports

Chile: 2010 Earthquake hits the Core of Pulp & Paper Industry

Storm Xynthia's Legacy: Over 4 million cubic metres Stormwood in the European Union

Storm Klaus - January 2009: Stormwood Inventory for Galicia (NW Spain)

Eucalyptus universalis: GIT Forestry's Global Eucalyptus Map

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© 2007-2011 Gustavo Iglesias Trabado & Associates. Please contact us if you want to use all or part of this text and photography elsewhere. We like to share, but we do not like rudeness.

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