Third party wood supplier in court over protected species.

 

Independent office products dealers could face further price rises for office paper in the wake of an industrial dispute involving VicForests, a key supplier of essential wood products to Opal Australian Paper.

 

According to an ABC report, Opal Australia's Maryvale paper mill near Morwell could stand down 200 workers by Christmas. 

 

The paper mill is expected to run out of hardwood by mid-December, stopping its white copy paper production completely.

 

The possibility of a further price rise in the supply of copy paper follows Opal’s announcement in September of new freight charges. 

 

Unions say court orders restricting VicForests' logging capabilities have created uncertainty for the Gippsland timber industry.

 

This month the Supreme Court ordered stricter rules after it found the government agency failed to adequately protect the yellow-bellied glider (pictured inset) and the endangered greater glider.

 

The ruling forces VicForests to resurvey hundreds of coupes, which it confirmed would take months to complete and would leave harvest and haulage contractors without work and exacerbate a sawlog shortage that has already led to the closure of one mill.

 

As timber industry workers and contractors protested on Friday, eucalypt branches, hard hats and reams of paper were placed on a coffin, symbolising the death of the timber industry.

 

The paper mill relies on a mixture of pine and hardwoods to manufacture paper, but needs hardwood to make white paper.

 

Dealers advised of possible stock shortages

 

Last week, Opal Australian Paper advised some dealer group members that court proceedings could impact the company’s ability to supply paper products.

 

The correspondence to dealers, signed by Opal Australian paper sales director Gary Harris, stated: “Vic Forest, a key third party wood supplier to Opal, has announced that in response to mandatory injunctions to shortly be issued by the Victorian Supreme Court, it will be suspending most current timber hardesti8ng activities, at least in the short term.

 

“The key input required by the Maryvale Mill to manufacture the paper products that Opal supplies to you is wood. Opal sources 100% of its wood from third parties, including Vic Forests, so it may have an unexpected impact on Maryvale Mill’s wood supply.

 

“We are working with our third party wood suppliers to assess the potential impact of these events on our business and on our on-going ability to supply paper products to you.”

 

Opal, which employs 850 workers at its Maryvale mill, issued a media statement saying: “Opal is continuing to work closely with VicForests and the Victorian government to manage supply challenges. We remain fully committed to keeping our Maryvale team members updated on the supply situation as it continues to develop.”