SANDALWOOD PRODUCTION — FOREST PRODUCTS COMMISSION
414. Hon STEVE MARTIN to the minister representing the
Minister for Forestry:
I
refer to the growing industry concerns around oversupply of sandalwood in Western
Australia due to overproduction from Forest Products Commission
operations. What is the current amount of sandalwood stockpiled including —
(a) tonnes of dead sandalwood;
(b) tonnes of green sandalwood; and
(c) tonnes of other products?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for some notice
of the question. The following information has been provided by the Minister
for Forestry.
The
premise of the member's question is incorrect. There is no
overproduction of sandalwood. The former Liberal–National government set the annual harvest limit for
wild sandalwood prior to losing office. The harvest limit set by the
former Liberal–National government will be in place until December
2026. In response to the decreased demand, the Forest Products Commission is
not harvesting to its full quota and will continue to harvest below quota for
the foreseeable future. As at 30 June 2021, the following quantities of
sandalwood were stockpiled —
(a) 80 tonnes;
(b) 323 tonnes; and
(c) 1 218 tonnes.