Native and Plantation Forest Base Stumpages

133. Hon ALISON XAMON to the minister representing the Minister for Forestry:

I refer to the stumpages scheduled for 2010.

(1) Will the minister please table the current schedule of base native forest stumpages and of base plantation stumpages?

(2) Will the minister please confirm that the gross stumpage for green charcoal logs was reduced from $20.10 on 1 January 2009 to $16.37 on 1 January 2010?

(3) Will the minister please confirm that the gross stumpage for dry charcoal logs was reduced from $23.61 on 1 January 2009 to $18.81 on 1 January 2010?

(4) Will the minister please explain these reductions?

Hon ROBYN McSWEENEY replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question.

(1) Yes.

(2)–(3) Yes.

(4) The stumpage price for charcoal logs sold by the Forest Products Commission to Simcoa is indexed every 1 January and 1 July in accordance with movements in the price of silicon metal on the world market. The world price of silicon fell during 2009, hence the reduced stumpage price on 1 January 2010 compared with that on 1 January 2009.

I table the document relating to answer (1).

[See paper 1926.]