• Develop and source new pulpwood and round wood timber markets for members.
• Supply wood chips to international markets through three wood chipping facilities.
• Negotiate competitive prices on behalf of our members.
• Continually explore alternative markets and timber beneficiation opportunities.

NCT Tree Farming provides several important services to the Co-operative, and indirectly to members. These can be summarized as: Managing a strategic reservoir of timber to support NCT’s marketing effort; Growing preferred species to provide strategic volumes for marketing; Research and development services; and provide a management service to NCT customers and members.

Strategic reservoir

Pulpwood from NCT-owned farms is strategically used as a reservoir to supplement members supplies. This affords the NCT marketing team the opportunity to enter contracts knowing that the owned farms can make up a potential shortfall if the need arises.

The sustainable hardwood reservoir totals 252 000 tonnes with wattle at 70 000 and gum at 182 000 tonnes. Supplies per genus from NCT farms vary considerably from year-to-year depending on the demand for NCT’s woodchips.

The NCT Board has set some guidelines on the size of the required reservoir in relation to the longer-term market potential for NCT’S woodchips including the demand for certification. The total size of the reservoir is currently close to these targets. 

Preferred species

Wattle and E. smithii command premium prices in international wood chip markets due to their wood properties. NCT Tree farming prioritise these species on suitable sites. This allows the co-operative to control significant volumes of these strategic species. NCT-owned farms supply approximately half of the tonnage of E. smithii for the annual sales programme. These preferred species also assist with the marketing of mixed gum as deals are often secured on the back of wattle and E. smithii sales.

 Research and Development

Tree Farming manages the NCT Forestry Research budget which includes investment into collaborative Industry Reach Programmes. These include tree breeding and pest management at the Institute for Commercial Forestry Research (ICFR); Tree pathology and entomology at the Tree Protection Cooperative Programme (TPCP) and Chemical use at the Nelson Mandela Metro University (NMMU).

 NCT has also developed a strong Eucalyptus hybrid clone programme. This programme has focussed on hybridising Eucalyptus grandis with other species to produce individuals that are fast growing and tolerant to various pests and diseases. In addition, the programme has expanded to select superior wattle trees that can be released as clones. The main objective of this project is to select individuals that show tolerance to the wattle rust fungus and to frost.

Members Managed Farms

Over the last few years, the area managed for members has reduced, mainly through the cancellation of two municipal contracts as well as one large grower.

The service offers a complete management package with economics of scale especially for the smaller farms. Most of the managed farms are either FSC certified or PEFC certified where economies of scale make it economically feasible. Financial and personnel management have become increasingly important in today’s legislative environment.

NCT Tree Farming is well positioned to manage additional member farms where required depending on the geographic location in relation to NCT owned farms.

Current management area: 4100 planted hectares

Clients

• Harding Town Board,
• Members with other farming interests,
• Members with other business interests
• Joint Venture Farms (JV with Japanese customer, HKP)

Management Package includes:

• Forestry Management
• Financial Management
• Administration
• Marketing
• Personnel

Silviculture

• Provide silviculture manuals and productivity pamphlets.
• Advise on best operating practices.

Technology Transfer

• Invest in relevant collaborative research programmes.
• Transfer information (including research recommendations) to members.
• Provide extension services.

Tree Improvement

• Advise on site-species matching.
• Provide access to improved genetic material.
• Provide access to new hybrids developed through collaborative programmes.

Mapping

• Produce accurate farm maps that meet FSC standards.
• Update farm maps and offer a high-quality map plotting service.
• Provide access to stand-alone GIS system.

NCT manages a forest management certificate. The purpose of this is to provide a level of assurance to our markets that the timber we market is sustainable. The certificate is for a Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) group scheme. This scheme allows NCT members to join, become certified and then market their timber as certified under the relevant standard.

To maintain the certification status of the timber sourced from this scheme, as well as from other certified sources, for subsequent sale onwards, NCT maintains two Chain-of-Custody (CoC) certificates. One for FSC (FSC-C117221) and another for PEFC. Both certificates allocate NCT Head Office as the central office and the NCT mills and depots as sites within a multi-site framework.

As not all the timber supplied into NCT is certified, so NCT has lodged within the CoC framework, a Due Diligence System (DDS). This DDS ensures that timber that is not certified, can be classified as either FSC Controlled Wood or from PEFC Controlled Sources. This allows for the mixing of material at NCT sites, so that appropriate and representative PEFC Certified, FSC Mix Credit or FSC Controlled Wood claims may be made. The NCT DDS focusses on ensuring that there is minimal risk of NCT purchasing from sources deemed to be Controversial Sources by the PEFC. A strong focus of the NCT DDS in the South African context is to ensure source verification of timber. This is to minimise the risk of sourcing stolen timber. NCT requires its suppliers to uphold a strict NCT Supplier Code of Conduct.

NCT is committed to sourcing material from controlled, ethical, non-controversial sources in accordance with the FSC Controlled Wood and the PEFC Chain of Custody standards. NCT commits to implement and maintain the PEFC Chain of Custody Standard (PEFC ST 2002:2020). In accordance with this standard, this commitment is made to NCT’s personnel, suppliers, customers and other interested parties.

FSC® controlled wood mitigates the risk of forest products originating from unacceptable sources (fsc.org/en/cw). FSC controlled wood requirements prohibit and are designed to avoid: illegally harvested wood, wood harvested in violation of traditional and human rights, wood from forests with threatened high conservation values, wood from forests with genetically modified trees and wood from forests converted to plantations or non-forest uses. For more information on FSC controlled wood see fsc.org/en/cw.

All these certificates are subject to annual review, internal audits, and an external audit. The external audit is conducted by the relevant certification body. The internal audits are carried out either by NCT staff or contractors (for a level of independence).