NCT Durban Wood Chips 

In 2003, NCT increased its export activities by investing in its third wood chip processing and export plant in the port of Durban. Commissioned in August 2004, this R80-million mill exported its first load of wood chips to Japan in February 2005. NCT partners in this venture, Zululand Chip Manufacturers (ZCM), held 30% equity. NCT became 100% shareholder of NCT Durban Wood Chips in March 2009 when the co-operative purchased the remaining shares from ZCM. Construction began at a time of a strengthening South African Rand and challenging environmental demands that included the requirement of an enclosed chip storage area. Despite the space constraints of operating in the quayside area of Maydon Wharf, the plant has achieved positive operational and financial results. This state-of-the-art facility has exported over nine million tonnes since its inception.

BayFibre 

BayFibre (Pty) Limited was established after the dissolution of the Central Timber Co-operative Limited (CTC). In 2008, sole members of CTC, NCT Forestry and TWK resolved to end their partnership in the wood chipping mill through which process the whole of CTC was purchased by NCT, who simultaneously sold a portion of the Richards Bay wood chip business back to TWK. The assets sold to TWK consisted of one chipping line and two wood chip piles.

NCT retained a chipping line chip pile, a number of farms, and leases of which there are 11 000 ha of planted forestry land and office property in Pietermaritzburg. NCT’s portion of the former CTC was renamed BayFibre and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the co-operative. CTC was originally formed out of necessity by a group of farsighted timber growers.

In the late 1960’s a huge discrepancy in timber pricing developed between processors and private timber growers; wattle could only be sold at firewood tariffs. It was at this time that NCT together with the Transvaal Wattle Growers and Natalse Landbou agreed to form a central co-operative to cater for private growers’ needs. The Central Timber Co-operative Limited was registered as a co-operative in 1973 and a 10-year contract was signed with Sanyo-Kokusaku Pulp Company (now Nippon Paper Company Limited) and Sumitomo Shoji Kaisha Limited (now Sumitomo Corporation) to export wattle wood chips to Japan. The new co-operative erected a chipping plant at Cato Ridge and a ship loading facility in the port of Durban. Its first vessel sailed from Durban in 1975. In March 1982, CTC opened its Richards Bay mill and went on to achieve peak volumes in 2004 by exporting 67 shipments (or 2.4 million tonnes). To date, this mill exports 30 shipments annually.