19 INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT 2025 Supplies, Logistics and Transportation Domestic Sales The Domestic pulp, board and special market sales segment closed the year at 450 540 tonnes, 9% lower than the previous year. The local Eucalyptus pulp market remained oversubscribed, with growers receiving lower monthly allocations than they had requested. Further pushbacks were experienced with frequent maintenance shutdowns at our major pulp mills. That said, the lower than anticipated but consistent orders from domestic markets, and the commencement of supply to a new market helped us to achieve fair overall sales volumes for the year. Sizable E. Smithii volumes were also sold to another chipping mill in Richards Bay during the year while we could not process at our northern mills due to the rebuild. The demand for Pinus pulpwood at Mondi declined dramatically during the year, and we expect it to decline further due to poor market demand. Special Markets (non-pulpwood) sales volumes for the year were 31% higher than the previous year, ending on 94 830 tonnes. The export peeler market maintained strong demand despite the influence of lower pulp orders on supply volumes. Local peeler processing mills continue to pose operational and administrative challenges due to limitations around trade credit and Chain-of-Custody (CoC) compliance. Nevertheless, these mills remain important in alleviating some of the difficulties currently affecting the Eucalyptus pulp segment. Similarly, the Eucalyptus pole market has remained robust, offering a limited but valuable outlet for members growing suitable species. Pine sales have been relatively stable at 18% of the total non-pulpwood segment, although the market has been impacted by declining prices and conservative purchasing behaviour from sawmills managing tighter cash flows. NCT Sales – per market segment Road Transport and Loading Operations In total, 405 881 tonnes per annum were transported and processed through NCT’s Job Code deduction system. The grower uptake was strong with a total of 411 growers using the service, 317 of whom were from the KZN Midlands and 94 from Northern KZN. Road transport has seen increased demand due to the decline in rail-service reliability. To reduce costs, suppliers are increasingly favouring Performance-Based Standards (PBS) vehicles due to their enhanced payload capacity and reduced costs. NCT secured PBS contracts in both the Southern and Northern KZN corridors. PBS Volume 11-year period Tonnes Rand value The PBS contracts aim to enhance service quality while providing members access to top-tier technology at competitive rates. We expect volumes to grow further in the coming years. Market Segments: 2024 2025
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