Mark Ross: Wood Processors & Manufacturers Association of NZ CEO on the timber sector escaping the tariffs

There is relief among New Zealand's wood exporters - who've escaped the import tariffs set by the US.

Imports of timber and lumbar products into the US have dodged tariffs, as confirmed by President Donald Trump,

The United States was New Zealand's third largest market for timber exports, after China and Australia.

Wood Processors & Manufacturers Association of NZ CEO Mark Ross says this doesn't come as a surprise - given how much America relies on timber for construction. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:17):
Red twenty four minutes away from seven Now a local
timber exporters, they are for now breathing a sigh of relief.
The global timber industry will be immune from sweeping tariffs
and posed on most of the world last week. This
is to help America with home building and they successfully
lobbied Washington for this. New Zealand exported about three hundred

(00:38):
and sixty million dollars worth of radiator pine and to
the US last year, about six percent of our overall
timber exports. Wood process As a manufacturers Association CEO Mark Ross,
he looks after our wood industry and joins me.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Now, Hi Marc, gooday, Ryan, and thanks, bring on your show.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Good to have you here. So what, first of all,
were you surprised that there was an exemption given?

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Oh? Lord, not totally surprised. One of the main reasons
they've got a section two through investigation on which is
looking at the too many effects imports of our timber
and lubber have on the United States supply chain. So
that's only just close off on the first of April.
In a way of submission, that inquiry is going through
to probably November. So in the interim they've put this

(01:25):
exemption on timber and number being imported into the US.
And also our power of the lobbyists in America who
actually helping our cause, local home building associations and the
Building Materials Alliance. They're lobbying White House hard to make
sure that imported timber can still come into America as
a means of keeping house prices done.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
This is our third light. I mean, should we need
to pay a tariff? Well, actually, if they do put
the tariffs back on and they take away this exemption,
presumably we would be in a better position than others
because our tariff rates only ten percent.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah, I'd hope so too. In the products we supply
they actually need. Look, there's no ponustrating out a processinging
in America, so we supply products that go straight into
do it yourself in the home market. And the high
quality products are the durable and the appearance gave products,
and they love them and they really want us to

(02:25):
keep exporting those. So so yeah, just saying the market's
going thirty percent in the last five years. So we're
really hoping that, you know, we're not the target Canadians
and Mexico eighty five percent of the US imported timber market.
It's sort of the targets and we're hoping we make it.
You can slip by, but it's a long shot for

(02:45):
now here.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, would that be your main competitor would be the
Canadians going into the US?

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Oh, I know that not on the products that we export,
but just generally, you know, they export a lot of
lumber into the US. You know, chump's having a bit
of a garment of late.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, it doesn't like Canada. I don't know what they've
done wrong, got something pretty bad, all right? So this
is all kind of fine for you guys at the moment.
You'll watch and see how it goes. What about the
six percent that we do export there? If you needed
to redirect it, would that be relatively easy to do
because I know number one is China, write number two

(03:21):
is Australia and then number three is the US.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, and it'd be pretty hard. The companies that export
there is about fifteen to eighteen New Zealand businesses. They've
worked really hard to get those markets, and they've actually
spent a lot of time on the ground building them up,
and some of them are actually sort of unique to
the US, so it'd be really hard to substitute those markets.
You know, we're doing a lot more to Asia now,

(03:46):
to parts of Vietnam and Philippines for example, But yeah, yeah,
we'd love to retain it the US market, and if
we can main tariff exempt, it'll be great.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
And what sort of stuff are we actually sending you
mentioned like, is it home diy stores that kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, yes, it's like a parents grade timber. It's for example,
there's products going in like prime treated terrible pine sightings
and trom boards, so it's quite specialist construction products. And
you know the durability when they've been treated as thairty
as plus versus the local cedar and Edward products which
sounds so durable and don't take the treatment so well.

(04:25):
So and also we do long clear board, so we
prone our pine trees. We got a great story to
tell about our sustainable pine plantations, but that's another story.
But you leave it and you get long clear timber,
so they don't have any knots in their parents' grade
and they look great on the houses and that you
can see that around your Celand as well. Yeah, we've

(04:47):
just got a real niche market there.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Brilliant long mate. Last Mark, thanks for coming on the show.
That's Mark Ross, CEO of the Wood Processes and Manufacturers Association,
New Zealanders.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
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