Clive Suckling, Director, PwC London, UK, moderated the title panel for the Conference, which included four speakers, each with their own perspective on winning strategies for the industry during these challenging times. Niel Barnard from Ceres Ventues discussed the pulp and paper industry’s unique niche to be able to capture the value from the bioenergy market as a result of its access to fibre and existing ability to generate energy. Those forest industry players with a willingness to change their mindset are successfully partnering with energy companies and winning the race for capital, land and access to resources. Kenneth Strassner, a Vice President with Kimberly Clark, spoke about their competitive advantage of sourcing and consuming certified fibre. They use CSA, SFI, FSC, CERFLOR and PEFC certified fibre but access to timber is constrained because only 10% of the world’s forests are certified. He asked the industry to work closer with NGOs, native populations and government to improve the access to and certification of fibre, as well as helping small landowners in the US obtain certification. Leo Hambro, Chief Executive of the Russian Timber Group, encouraged all companies to invest in the Russian forest industry where they are poised for a period of sustained economic growth. The Russian industry is hugely fragmented. There are 20,000 harvesting companies in Russia; Russian Timber Group is the 2nd largest but harvests only 2% of the annual cut. Russia is the most underdeveloped, underutilized timber supply and is next to the largest global market – China, so Leo challenged delegates why they wouldn’t invest in Russia. The Export Tax that was implemented last year means that it is not worth harvesting the timber if it can’t be processed in Russia. The same harvest volume was processed 25% in Russia last year and 65% this year. Bev Van Ruyven, Executive VP at BC Hydro, discussed their strategy to close the gap between the demand and supply of electricity: conserve more, buy more and build more. On the build side, the potential projects include wind, which is unpredictable, run of the river, which can have environmental impacts, and biomass. Biomass may provide the greatest opportunity for alternative energy sources and is an opportunity for the forest industry. BC Hydro had tremendous response to its February/08 Bioenergy Call – Phase 1, which focuses on projects that do not require new forest tenure. Panelists
Download the presentation