Tasmania’s forestry industry is smaller and more specialised than it has been previously, but is currently thriving, according to the boss of Neville-Smith Forestry Products.
The ABC reports that the company, which is currently undergoing a $1.3 million expansion, is using the upgrade to extract as much value as possible from wood residues.
The expansion, assisted by a $440,000 grant under the Tasmania Jobs and Investment Fund, involves a “turnkey pelletising plant and garden stake processing plant at Mowbray”. The company runs a drying plant at Mowbray and a sawmill – which it bought in October last year after renting it – at Southwood.
Executive chairman at NSFP, James Neville-Smith, said the state’s industry had shrunk in recent years, but was thriving.
“The companies left in the state right now are the family businesses who employ people and have a great culture,” he told the ABC.