Mpumalanga Business 2018-19 edition

OVERVIEW
forests. Sabie and Graskop represent the hub of the industry, but
commercial forests are also found to the east and south along the
Swaziland border. About 11% of the land mass is forested, with 4% of
that being natural forest. The province is the national leader in total
hectares under forest (514 000ha) and in export earnings.
York Timbers owns and operates five processing plants, including
the largest sawmill and plywood plants in South Africa, and it has
60 470 planted hectares. The company is considering investing in
biomass energy generation. The Industrial Development Corporation
(IDC) has a stake in York Timbers and a 42.6% share in Hans Merensky
Holdings, a company with timber and processing interests in three
provinces. Merensky is responsible for 20% of South Africa’s sawn
pine lumber.
The Mondi Group has extensive forestry holdings in the province
and has been working on introducing a higher degree of mechanisation
in its operations. Mondi has also instituted an ecosystem management
plan throughout its forestry operations with the intention of better
managing the impact its work has on the environment.
Although local demand is dwindling, the export market for pulp
and paper is strong. Pulp production figures have been on the rise
for several years and companies like Mondi are increasingly focusing
on pulp export because of better margins.
Big investment
Ongoing investment at Sappi’s giant Ngodwana Mill will contribute
R13-billion to the provincial economy over 20 years (Premier’s State
of the Province Address). Sappi has two large facilities in the province.
Ngodwana which produces its own energy, makes dissolving wood pulp.
About 70% of the mill’s product is exported. It produces paper grade
pulp together with newsprint, containerboard and dissolving wood pulp.
It is located near Sappi’s commercial forestry operations and produces
210 000 tons of dissolving wood pulp and 380 000 tons of paper (including
kraft linerboard). Sappi’s Lomati Sawmill in Barberton produces
ONLINE RESOURCES
Centre for the Modernisation of Forestry Operations:
www.cmogroup.net
Forestry South Africa: www.forestry.co.za
Institute for Commercial Forestry Research: www.icfr.ukzn.ac.za
National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries:
www.daff.gov.za
South African Institute of Forestry: www.saif.org.za
Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry of South
Africa: www.tappsa.co.za
kiln-dried Southern African pine
lumber from sawlogs supplied by
Sappi Forests.
In 2017 Sappi built a sugar extraction
demonstration plant at
Ngodwana. Findings from the
experiment will help to improve
the process of extracting biorenewable
chemicals. Sappi
is partnering with Valmet, a
Finnish company.
PG Bison has a board plant
in Piet Retief. Sonae Rauco runs
large plants at White River and
Panbult. Komatiland Forests,
a 100%-owned subsidiary of
state company SAFCOL, has big
plantations in several districts.
TWK is a R6-billion agricultural
company with its headquarters
in Mkhondo (Piet Retief).
Asset management company
Global Environment Fund created
Imvelo Forests and in 2015 the
company investigated using
thermal imaging to detect fires.
Among the other private timber
growers in the province are
Pull Scar Timber Co, and United
Forest Products.
The Community Conservation
Resilience Initiative (CCRI) has
been introduced to Mpumalanga,
on the basis that local communities
can play a big role in biodiversity
conservation and restoration.
The first two communities
to be part of CCRI are Mariepskop
and Houtbosloop Valley.
The Lowveld Botanical
Gardens in Nelspruit has more
than 650 of the 1 000 trees
indigenous to South Africa.
The Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research’s (CSIR)
forestry-research unit aims to
improve tree breeds.
39 MPUMALANGA BUSINESS 2018/19