First Commodity Levy for Forestry

Associate Minister for Primary Industries, Jo Goodhew has today announced a new commodity levy on all harvested wood material, including logs, from New Zealand plantation forests.

“The Government has agreed to make this new levy order following a successful referendum of forest growers in March 2013,” says Mrs Goodhew.

“By voting in the referendum, forest growers gave a mandate to the Forest Growers Levy Trust (FGLT) to collect levies to invest in industry activities such as research and development, forest biosecurity, and industry training and education to support the success of forestry.

“The Government recognises the importance of the forest growers’ levy for the long-term competitiveness of the New Zealand forest growing industry.

“This is the first levy order in the forestry sector. Other sectors such as meat and horticulture have had similar levies for over a decade, and they have brought greater cohesion and coordination in those industries.

“The Government commends the industry’s initiative to spend some of the levy money in developing codes of practice and industry standards relating to the health and safety of forestry workers,” says Mrs Goodhew.

The levy order will come into force on 1 January 2014.

More detail on the levy can be found at www.forestvoice.org.nz