Published on Mar 02, 2022
South Australia’s housing construction industry will get a significant boost with local company SA Pine set to process enough extra timber to build nearly 1,000 houses with help from a $1.36 million grant from the Marshall Liberal Government.
The extra timber has been made possible by SA Pine successfully negotiating a long-term timber supply agreement with ForestrySA as well as a plan to source logs from Kangaroo Island.
Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development David Basham said the $1.36 million Marshall Liberal Government grant will help SA Pine expand its capacity to process an extra 25,000 tonnes of pine logs which is enough to build approximately 950 houses.
“The long-term timber supply agreement and additional timber grant will support local jobs and investment across South Australia as well as securing the businesses of home builders and suppliers,” Minister Basham said.
“The booming local housing industry has been great news for our economy and a positive sign of confidence in South Australia, but the increased demand for timber has put real pressure on our supply chains.
“When we asked the local timber industry to step up to process extra construction timber to support local builders SA Pine came forward with a proposal which will see enough timber brought to market for approximately 950 extra houses.
“The business plans to process an extra 25,000 tonnes of pine logs which will be secured partly from ForestrySA and it is intended partly from Kangaroo Island. This will be supported by a $1.36 million grant for our $2 million Additional Structural Timber program.
“SA Pine is a successful South Australian sawmill operating out of Kuitpo and Monarto and the largest customer of ForestrySA timber sourced locally from the Mount Lofty Ranges.
“The SA Pine Kuitpo mill is well positioned to benefit from the joint Commonwealth-State funded transport assistance scheme to move bushfire salvage timber off Kangaroo Island to processing.
“This funding is delivering a new supply of logs to support jobs in both our timber and construction industries and help boost economic growth across South Australia.”
Minister Basham congratulated SA Pine on negotiating a long-term supply agreement with ForestrySA. The existing supply agreement was set to expire on 30 June 2022.
“The new partnership between ForestrySA and SA Pine – the largest in ForestrySA’s history - will secure the SA Pine business for years to come and will underpin additional investment,” Minister Basham said.
Treasury confirmed prior to Caretaker that this initiative can be funded from within existing Departmental resources.
