Australia’s plantation estate in 2010 was marginally less than in 2009 but substantially more than five and 10 years ago, according to Australian plantation statistics 2011.

The total area of Australia’s plantation estate in 2010 was 2 million hectares and this comprises more than 1 million hectares of coniferous plantations, 973,000 hectares of broadleaved plantations and 12,000 hectares of other categories, according to the report, released today by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences.

ABARES Acting Deputy Executive Director, Terry Sheales, said around 23,500 hectares of new plantations were reported established in 2010 which is the smallest area of new plantations established since the early 1990s.

“Managed investment schemes, which funded the vast majority of new plantations in the past 10 years, funded less than half of the new plantations established in 2010,” Dr Sheales said.

“Nearly all coniferous plantations are managed primarily to produce sawlogs to make sawn timber for building and construction and most broadleaved plantations are managed to produce pulpwood for paper manufacturing.

“Of the 7 per cent of broadleaved plantations managed to produce sawlogs, most are too young to produce significant volumes.”