Sawmills, felling and forestry recruitment dominate SFTT meeting

The Scottish Forest & Timber Technologies regional meeting for South Scotland returned in person last month, with much to discuss. The Scottish Forest & Timber Technologies regional meeting for South Scotland returned in person last month, with much to discuss. TALK about timing. After a near three-year absence, the Scottish Forest & Timber Technologies (SFTT) South Scotland regional meeting was finally back in person last month – the same month that brought news of a sawmill’s closure. And, in a twist of fate (or perhaps a fortunate/unfortunate coincidence, depending on your perspective), the current state of play of the country’s mills was one of the major talking points on the night.

That came courtesy of a presentation by James Jones & Sons’ Neil Cowan, but the evening also saw efforts to tackle pests and diseases, plant more trees, and encourage people into the sector at its heart, with speakers, such as Confor’s April Armstrong and Scottish Forestry’s Doug Howieson, detailing their topics to around 40 guests. 
Guests who had come from all across Scotland – with Egger, Euroforest, and FISA among the major organisations represented – to join the October event, held in the grounds of James Jones’ large Lockerbie mill. 

Sawmilling sector update, Neil Cowan 

Neil Cowan of James Jones & Sons. (Image: FJ)

Opening proceedings, Eddie Addis of Tilhill, SFTT chair for South Scotland, noted how good it was to finally be back in the same room together.  

By the time of the meeting, the days of sawmilling executives being able to light up cigars with five-pound notes were long gone. In their place we found ‘free-falling prices’, cancelled orders, and the closure of long-established mills. Whether it be the BSW Group (which had just that week confirmed Boat of Garten was to close by the end of the year), or AW Jenkinson, the feeling from that side of the industry was that the red light is shining. 

A flavour of the situation was given by Neil. The general manager for procurement began by outlining a not-so-pretty picture. As you’d expect, those halcyon days of 2020/21 (halcyon is one word, others may choose something slightly stronger) saw demand outstrip capacity, as the sector experienced a “pricing boom”. This included the price of standing timber in some areas rising to over £100 per tonne – something Neil said he “never thought he’d see”. 

“However, what goes up must come down, and the quicker it goes up, the quicker it comes down,” he said. “We all knew the end was nigh when the BBC started to run reports saying there was a shortage of timber. That led to the point where we are today.” 

Then the red light came, as Neil described it. This was brought on by several factors.

Firstly, people were allowed back out from their homes to spend their cash. No more man caves, no more garden pubs. No more of anything much that required timber.

Instead it was back to the old routine. Secondly, given demand had been so high for so long, many had been over-ordering wood they didn’t need and, in one mad dash, a string of orders were cancelled.

In turn, this led to an oversupply of timber – caused by, among other factors, continually high volumes of imports  and a collapse of the price. From a peak of around £400 a cube for carcassing, the price had dropped to around £200. Things only took a turn for the worse in August. 

If that wasn’t enough to have the sawmills grimacing, throw in the fuel and the cost-of-living crises and, Neil said, suddenly no one wants to buy timber. It’s a luxury item that people are putting to one side. Then there is the recent change on red diesel – which, Neil said, had cost James Jones around £1 million – and none of it makes for a “pretty picture”. 

Now, you might be wondering if there’s good news? Well, Neil believes there’s some. 

The UK remains committed to hitting net zero by 2050 (at least at the time of writing), and it also needs more houses. Both of these are avenues where British timber could thrive. Then consider, Neil said, that many homes built in the 1950s will soon need to be redeveloped. They are going to need to get wood from somewhere. 

He ended by making the point of recent James Jones investment. In the last year, the firm (which recently posted record profits) has spent around £150 million on various projects, including on new technology at its Aboyne mill. 

According to Neil: “This shows belief in our industry.
“We should be proud of the industry and what we have done. I do feel the lights are going to change to green just further up ahead.” 

A brief Q&A followed, with the main takeaway being that James Jones’ sawmills are running at about 65 per cent capacity – “we’re being cautious” – and that Neil expects prices to bottom out this month (November). 

Natural disease resistance and a disease risk assessment of our alternative forest species, Carolyn Riddell

Forest Research’s Carolyn Riddell. (Image: FJ)

So, Neil’s talk had ended on a sliver of hope for the future to come – but can the same be said with regards to the many pests and diseases wreaking havoc on the nation’s trees? Carolyn Riddell, of Forest Research, seems to think so. 

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Opening her presentation by detailing the history of diseases, she began by showing how the accumulated number of serious forest declines caused by Phytophthora species had risen exponentially in the last 20 years or so. From around four or five in the 1960s, this had accumulated to 55 by 2000, but there had been more than 150 in the years since – worryingly, the current records only date to 2020 and don’t include pluvialis. 

“There’s every chance there will be more outbreaks,” Carolyn said. “We have to keep an eye out for them.” 

Moving on to give a brief background on Phytophthora ramorum, Carolyn showed the example of one larch plantation. In 2012, it was lush and green, but by 2013 it was all but completely dead. 

But, there could be some good news ahead. In 2015, Carolyn was part of a team doing surveys in Galloway when patterns of resistance were spotted in some Japanese larch.

Why? Collecting samples from survivors as well as some that were showing signs of infection, the researchers exposed the pathogen to tissue in the trees over the course of several years. Three weeks on from the inoculation, the team inspected the lesions and saw difference across the two types of larch. 

“The difference between them was really encouraging,” she said. “It wasn’t quite big enough to be definitive.” 

A larger trial is planned next year. 

Conservator update, Doug Howieson  

Scottish Forestry’s Doug Howieson. (Image: FJ)

A brief Industry Leadership Group (ILG) update from Scottish Forestry’s Roland Stiven followed Carolyn – he had come in as a last-minute replacement for Confor’s Andy Leitch – but it was Doug Howieson’s conservator update that really got tongues wagging. You’ll recall Scotland, like every part of the UK, missed its latest annual tree-planting targets.

Doug explained a little about how that happened. 

In 2021, the South Scotland Conservancy Budget was £11 million and that was to deliver 3,317 hectares of new woodland. What was actually claimed, however, was £9.7 m and 2,959 ha. 

In terms of the current year, just shy of £8 m had been committed for 2,812 ha. At the time of his presentation, the total already committed or submitted (but yet to be approved) stood at 4,549 ha. 

“It is more than probable that anything that hasn’t been approved already will not be planted,” he said. “It is also more than probable that anything that hasn’t been submitted already also won’t be.” 

Instead, Doug believes, South Scotland will end on around 3,300 ha. 

“In 2021, we approved – and I mean across Scotland – enough hectares to hit the country’s planting target, but around 2,500 ha were not claimed. Why? We think there is probably a capacity issue in the sector.” 

For this year, Doug said forestry officials wanted to gather better information from people on the ground to avoid underspending (the Scotland total was £11 m). 

A lively debate then ensued when Doug moved on to Storm Arwen. Saying Scottish Forestry is “committed” to learning the lessons from it, he was asked why felling licences are needed to remove windblown trees. This is due to the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018, he said. “It was felt that allowing people to clear windblow without a felling licence wasn’t sustainable forest management.” 

“What a load of rubbish,” replied one of those in attendance (although this was aimed at the law and not Doug). “It is just creating work for you. Why aren’t we asking for it to be changed?” 

Doug Howieson, of Scottish Forestry, outlined recent efforts to hit Scotland’s planting targets. (Image: FJ)

Doug admitted it was unlikely that it was going to change, but insisted SF would do better next time. 

Confor and Skills updates, April Armstrong and Richard Hunter 

April Armstrong, Confor’s national manager for Scotland. (Image: FJ)

Bringing the meeting to a close were April Armstrong and Richard Hunter. April, recently appointed Confor’s national manager for Scotland, told visitors how she was settling into the role, and her plans for the future. 

This included a round-table discussion on P. ramorum, while a future edition of Confor’s in-house magazine is going to look at rising crime in forestry – and what can be done to tackle it. 

Finally came Richard, technical support and industry development support manager, who explained some of the things he was doing to help recruit fresh faces into the industry.

Richard Hunter brought the evening to a close by detailing efforts to recruit more people into the sector. (Image: FJ)

Readers will remember Confor’s Introduction to Forestry Machinery event (‘I could be happy working in forestry’, Forestry Journal 332), which Richard hailed as a success. Now he has big plans to expand on it by branching out to even more potential candidates, and bringing them all together in one room for a day on the virtual simulators. 

But, he admitted, it is “no good” looking to people in a secure job, no matter the sector.

“Why would they leave?” he asked. That’s why the military had so far proven a happy hunting ground. 

One thing that could help, he said, would be the recruitment of even more STEM ambassadors in forestry, given they have the chance to directly sell the industry to schoolchildren. But, Richard said, in a direct appeal to the room and beyond, he needs more people to come forward to do the job.

With that, Eddie was back to bring the meeting to a close, thanking hosts EON for having them.