Find out more about New Zealand’s planted production forests, including area, age class and species, as well as planting and harvesting statistics.
New Zealand’s net stocked planted production forest covered an estimated 1.82 million hectares as at 1 April 2025.
The total planted forest standing volume was estimated to be 572 million cubic metres with an average forest standing age (area weighted) of 18.8 years.
The total new planting estimate for the year ending 31 December 2024 is 59,000 hectares.
Radiata pine is the dominant species in New Zealand.
Deforestation surveys collect information on the extent of forest owners' intentions to deforest or take up the offsetting provision in the emissions trading scheme (ETS).
This is crucial information for domestic and international climate change policy and ETS financial forecasting.
Each year we survey forest owners and managers to get information about their forests. The survey is called the National Exotic Forest Description (NEFD) survey. The survey provides a detailed description of New Zealand's planted production forest. This information is a useful starting point for investigating wood processing opportunities in New Zealand. We survey landowners who own or manage forests:
The survey results are used to maintain an authoritative, high-quality database of New Zealand's exotic planted forest estate. It has been published annually since 1985 and is a Tier 1 statistic. We publish these insights below.
Excel versions of the tables are available.
To find out more about the survey and how to participate, email us at nefd@mpi.govt.nz
The National Exotic Forest Description (NEFD) regional yield tables give the forest industry and MPI data used to produce wood availability forecasts.
New Zealand's major forest owners and managers provided information for the yield tables which are part of the National Exotic Forest Description (NEFD) database.
The yield tables are a representation of forest yield in cubic metres per hectare (m3/ha). The yield table is expressed in total recoverable volume (TRV), and volumes of 3 generic log types, together with any production thinning volumes by age (11 to 40 years for radiata pine, and 11 to 60 years for Douglas fir). Yields are for all forest sizes, except for Canterbury where they are split into large-scale (1,000 hectares (ha) and above) and small-scale (under 1,000 ha) forest. There is a separate yield table for each tending regime.
Radiata pine has 4 tending regimes:
|
Radiata pine tending regime |
R |
|---|---|
|
Pruned without production thinning |
I |
|
Unpruned without production thinning |
M |
|
Pruned with production thinning |
T |
|
Unpruned with production thinning |
Z |
Douglas-fir forest has 2 tending regimes:
|
Douglas-fir tending regime |
D |
|---|---|
|
Without production thinning |
M |
|
With production thinning |
Z |
For each crop type and regime, contributors were asked to provide separate yield tables based on when the stand was planted:
|
Age of stands |
|---|
|
Stands planted pre-1990 |
|
Stands planted post-1989 |
|
Stands of all ages |
For some regions there are additional 'year of planting' splits:
|
Other age of stand splits |
|---|
|
Stands planted pre-1979 |
|
Stands planted post-1978 |
|
Stands planted between 1979 and 1989 |
|
Stands planted pre-1982 |
|
Stands planted between 1982 and 1989 |
|
Stands planted post-1989 |
|
Stands of all ages |
|
|
Small end diameter |
Maximum branch |
Sweep class* |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Pruned |
35 |
0 |
1 |
|
Unpruned |
20 |
14 |
1 |
|
Pulp |
10 |
N/A |
2 |
|
|
Log length (m) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
*Sweep class |
< 3.7 |
3.7 – 4.8 |
4.9 – 7.6 |
7.6 + |
|
1 |
d/8 |
d/4 |
d/3 |
d/2 |
|
2 |
d |
2d |
3d |
4d |
In early 2025, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, now part of the Bioeconomy Science Institute, ran the first annual New Zealand nursery survey on behalf of MPI. The results show production, supply and demand of all native and exotic nurseries propagating or growing tree seedlings in New Zealand.
The survey:
These reports summarise the findings and provide analysis of the data collected in the 2024 survey and previous years when data is available.
New Zealand Nursery Survey – summary of findings 2024 [PDF, 957 KB]
This technical report presents the analysis of the 2024 survey data for exotic and native tree nurseries. It includes summaries of the responses to all questions and a time series analysis for the total annual supply of exotic trees since 2014. It explores the most important insights into nursery characteristics, production trends, and sector challenges.
New Zealand Nursery Survey – technical report for 2024 [PDF, 2.4 MB]
This report uses the nursery survey results of tree stock sales from commercial forestry nurseries to calculate total sales, plantings by species or species groups, and the total area planted. Historical time series are provided for tree stock sales from 2015 (softwood and hardwood species) and 2007 (radiata pine by category) and the provisional estimates of the areas of commercial forest planted in 2024.
Provisional estimates of tree stocks sales and forest planting in 2024 report [PDF, 487 KB]
Final estimates for 2025 planting will be available at the end of 2025 as part of the National Exotic Forest Description 2025 report.
Detailed statistics about exotic and native plant production and exotic tree stock sales.
New Zealand Nursery Survey – data tables for 2024 [XLSX, 31 KB]
If you have questions about this survey, email teururakau@mpi.govt.nz
In 2022, Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service surveyed the nursery sector to understand the barriers it faces.
Regional and national wood availability forecasts are prepared regularly by the industry and MPI under the NEFD work programme. They apply a range of harvesting scenarios and other factors that show potential volumes of logs that may be harvested by large and small-scale forest owners over the next 40 years.
National report and data
Regional reports (North Island)
Regional reports (South Island)
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