Mr. Danny Knoesen, General Manager NCT Forestry Agriculture Cooperative Ltd
According to NCT General Manager, Mr. Danny Knoesen, in the company’s May 2021 newsletter, NCT did very well under the Covid-19 circumstance for the financial year 2020/21. The timber co-operative was able to maintain more than adequate levels of trade and revenue during 2020. Mr. Knoesen also gave a prognosis on how business prospects were looking both domestically and internationally:
Domestic outlook
Pulpwood intake by local pulp mills has returned to pre-Covid levels albeit with some start/stops due to annual mill maintenance shutdowns.
The lack of performance and consistency from the local rail service provider hampered the on-time delivery of timber to the chipping mills.
NCT has reviewed its Eucalyptus mill delivered price by R50 per tonne due to the sustained strengthening of South African Rand against the US Dollar effective 1 June 2021.
International outlook
Japan reduced its intake of chips by almost 25% however, China held fast.
February and March 2021 saw a drastic rise in pulpwood pricing for both hardwood and softwoods on the back of China’s return to improved economic growth.
However, given the foregoing pulp price increases did not translate into meaningful wood chip prices.
NCT did face stiff competition from Australia, Chile, Brazil, Vietnam, and Thailand who offer cheaper wood chips to Japan and China due to their proximity to the market and production economies of scale.
The medium-long term view for chip supplying countries such as South Africa is encouraging as demand from China is expected to continue to grow and surpass supply capacity.
NCT Forestry Agricultural Co-operative Limited (NCT) was established in 1949 as a marketing co-operative catering to the needs of private and independent timber growers. NCT is recognized as an international supplier of quality round wood timber, hardwood pulp chips, and the largest forestry marketing organization in southern Africa. As a co-operative, its members who share in profits, own NCT. Today membership stands at 1 800 shareholding members, representing a total area of 300 000ha - 21% of afforested land in South Africa.
