62 INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT 2024 The 2024 financial year started with a bang as our chipper failed during February 2023 and we began the financial year having to stop supply and re-shuffle intake at the Richards Bay mill complex. From there, the roller coaster gathered momentum with the exchange rate running close to R20.00: USD and then within two months reaching a low of almost R17.50: USD. After the initial fluctuation of the exchange rate, it remained roughly within a range of R18.50 to R19.50: USD and we were able to take good advantage of our hedging policy. We achieved an average rate of R18.68 on our receipts for the year which has contributed to the turnover value of R2.9 billion that we are reporting for both the Group and Co-operative. At the time of preparing the first provisional tax submissions, I was reaching into my creative spaces to work out how we would be able to distribute taxable income of around R300 million to our members. And then 30 September 2023 dawned and shortly after we finished loading a vessel at midday, the Great Wood Chip Fire – as it became known – flared up. The roller coaster did not end that day, but despite the numerous peaks and troughs of the financial year 2024, we have ended the year with results that could have been significantly worse. Chief Financial Officer’s Report 2024 K E R RY MO F F E T T The variables that affect both our turnover and the mill delivered prices (MDP) are the export timber prices and the volumes we sell to the various markets. The mix of markets for 2024 was favourable as were the dollar prices we received for the 2023 calendar year. Unfortunately, the fire resulted in a loss of over R300 million worth of timber and reduced volumes of timber traded during the year. Fortunately, our Japanese customers were supportive of our circumstances, and we were able to continue to supply both customers from Durban Wood Chips, achieving a record volume of over 640 000T exported from Durban. Volumes received from suppliers and sold to customers usually differs by the movement in stock holding at the mills. For the 2024 financial year, the difference is also due to the significant amount of stock lost during the fire. Purchases of over 1.7 million tonnes of timber translated into under 1.6 million tonnes of sales during the year, of which 0.5 million tonnes was sold locally. Despite moving group farms into reservoir status after the fire, the farms achieved profits before tax of R134.8 million, including positive fair value adjustments of R81.7 million. The farms continue to be of critical
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