QPF forestry scheme to expand

Queensland Paulownia Forests (QPF) is planning to buy an additional 550 hectares of land at Forbes in New South Wales to meet anticipated demand for its forestry scheme.

QPF currently has 1,650 hectares of land for its managed investment scheme, which has just received a product ruling from the Australian Taxation Office.

Plantation development manager Graham Fayle said the additional land would be acquired in July for planting in October as part of the existing scheme.

The Forbes operation has become the flagship plantation of the company and it is looking to generate 40,000 cubic metres of rough sawn Paulownia when the trees mature in the next 10 to 15 years.

“The longer we leave the trees, the better quality of the timber,” Fayle said.

According to a report on the Paulownia market by BIS Shrapnel, the markets for the timber includes use in boat building as a replacement for balsa, mobile homes, surfboards, coffins, furniture and musical instruments.

The disadvantage of Paulownia is the lack of strength in the timber, which means its uses are mainly for decorative purposes.

QPF has used a figure of $975 a cubic metre for estimating the returns for the project and an estimate of yield for the project is based on each hectare producing 244 cubic metres of timber.

Each woodlot, which varies in size from 0.2 to 0.4 hectares, is being sold for $5,000.

The size of each woodlot varies depending on the productivity of the soil for growing trees on the Forbes site.

At present, there are no saw mills handling Paulownia timber in the Forbes area, but Fayle said the company will acquire a local mill at some point in the future to process the tress from the plantation.

Fayle said the company is looking at further expansion of its plantation business in New South Wales, with land at Dubbo and Narromine being reviewed for possible future plantings.