Wood products in New Zealand

Trees are the source of many products we use every day

In New Zealand, most of our plantation forests are radiata pine. The wood from pine trees produces a versatile timber and strong pulp.

Trees provide a sustainable and renewable source of wood fibre and residues to produce low-emissions materials, products, and biofuels.

Diagram showing the products we can make out of a tree

Show/hide description for this image:

This is a diagram of a pine tree with 5 sections. The section at the base of the tree is a short stump with broken branches. It's labelled "Forest floor residues". The next section shows the trunk of the tree. It's labelled "Structural/Appearance". The remaining 3 sections of the tree have branches and green needles. From bottom to top, they're labelled "Industrial", "Pulp", and "Bark, branches and tops".

Green lines from each section show how we make products from different parts of the tree. Orange lines show how we use byproducts and residues from primary products to make other products.

From the forest floor residues section, we get woody biomass. We turn woody biomass into pulp to make paper, packaging, and fibre products. These are shown as a t-shirt, paper rolls, and cardboard boxes. We use byproducts from the pulping process to make a range of other products. These include biochemicals and liquid biofuels. These are shown as a beaker, car seat, jerry can, and plastic bottles.
From the structural/appearance section, we get saw logs – shown as a stack of 3 logs. We use saw logs to make appearance products – shown as cladding and furniture. We also use saw logs to make structural products – shown as decking and framing.
From the industrial section, we get lower-grade saw logs – again, shown as 3 logs. Lower-grade logs are used to make industrial products – shown as fencing, a table, and pallets. Residues from saw logs, like bark and wood chips, are used to make wood fibre products and solid biofuels. These are shown as images of particleboard and wood pellets.
From the pulp section, we turn the upper branches of the tree into wood chips. These residues are then used to make wood fibre products and solid biofuels – again, shown as particleboard and wood pellets.
From the bark, branches and tops section, we get woody biomass. We use this to make biochemicals and liquid biofuels. Again, these are shown as a beaker, car seat, jerry can, and plastic bottles.

Read about the types of logs made from radiata pine, and what they are used for

Sawn timber

New Zealand sawmills produce sawn timber products with different quality grades.

High-grade sawn timber is a versatile resource for the building sector. Sawn timber products include:

structural elements, such as frames, studs, joists, beams, and rafters
non-structural building products, including mouldings, weatherboards, and decking.

Builders use timber framing in 90% of standalone residential buildings.

Sawmills make lower-grade sawn timber products for a range of industrial uses. Examples include pallets, packaging, furniture, concrete formworks, crates, fencing, and playground components.

Wood veneer products

Wood processors make wood veneer products by peeling logs into thin layers. They then glue the layers together. These products include:

laminated veneer lumber (LVL) – made into panels, lintels, beams, and structural framing. LVL is valued for its stability and strong structural performance.
plywood boards – used to cover the frames of floors, walls, and roofs. Plywood has excellent 2-way directional strength and stiffness. It’s ideal for building diaphragms and bracing. Non-structural plywood is also used in joinery, furniture, and for interior finishes.

Boards made from wood residues

Wood processors use wood chips, flakes, and fibres to manufacture boards. These products include particleboard, medium-density fibreboard, and strand board products.

Particleboard

Used in construction for flooring. Used in joinery for household cabinetry and door components. Particleboard usually has a veneered or laminated finish. It can be moisture and fire resistant.

Medium density fibreboard (MDF)

Used to make flooring, tabletops, door panels, and drawers with moulded edges or profiled surfaces. MDF’s smooth surface makes it easy to paint or add decorative finishes.

Strand board products

Used in building for floor overlays, linings, and bracings for walls and roofs. Used in joinery for cabinet making. Oriented Strand Board (OSB) has a high structural performance.

Mass timber products

Manufacturers make structural mass timber products by bonding layers of wood together with adhesives. They produce different types of laminated timber.

Glue-laminated timber (glulam)

Made by gluing together solid wood boards in horizontal layers. The grain of each layer runs lengthwise. Glulam is used for beams and columns. It can be shaped into straight or curved forms. It’s often left exposed in buildings for its aesthetic appeal.

Cross-laminated timber (CLT)

Made by gluing timber layers at right angles. CLT is made in large panels that can be cut and shaped using a computer numerical control (CNC) router. CLT panels are used for floor, wall, and roof components.

Parallel laminated timber (PLT)

Made by gluing together timber boards to form structural panels. The grain of each layer runs lengthwise. PLT panels are used for floors, walls, and roofs.

Other types of mass timber products

Laminated strand lumber (LSL) and parallel strand lumber (PSL) – made by layering wood flakes and strands upon one another and gluing them together.
Nail-laminated timber (NLT) and dowel-laminated timber (DLT) – made by using nails, screws or hardwood dowels to lock timber boards together.

Pulp, paper, and packaging

In New Zealand, pulp mills use mechanical or chemical processes to break down wood chips into fibres, then pulp. The mills might bleach the pulp or leave it unbleached. They then sell the pulp to paper mills here or overseas. Paper mills process the pulp into paper and packaging products, such as:

tissue paper products like toilet paper, tissues, and paper towels
graphic paper products like newsprint and stationery paper sheets
packaging products like cardboard and foldable cartons.

Bioenergy and biofuel

We can use the residues from forestry and wood processing to make biofuels. Biofuels can reduce emissions when compared to fossil fuels.

Solid biofuels include sawdust, wood chips, wood pellets, and briquettes. Factories can use solid biofuels instead of coal and gas to generate energy. For example, sawmills burn sawdust, bark, and wood chips in boilers to power their plants and dry timber.

Liquid biofuels include black liquor, biodiesel, and bioethanol. Black liquor is a by-product from pulping. Historically, most pulp mills burnt black liquor in their recovery boilers to generate energy.

There's ongoing research into biodiesel and bioethanol made from wood residues. We can use these fuels as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. For example, as a substitute for heavy fuel oil in marine transport. The likelihood of producing liquid biofuels at scale should grow as technology improves.

Biochemicals and bioproducts

We can use the chemical derivatives from cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin to make hundreds of low emission products that can substitute for petrochemical products.

In New Zealand, wood processors take by-products from our kraft pulp mills to make turpentine and rosin. The chemical industry uses turpentine as a solvent for paints. It also uses it to produce fragrances, cleaning products, essential oils and so on. The industry uses rosin to make inks, paints, adhesives, and pharmaceuticals. Rosin is even used in chewing gum.

Around the world, the focus is on developing biorefineries to extract biomaterials and chemicals from wood fibre. Lignocellulosic fractionation aims to break down woody biomass as a complex structure and isolate each component. This can include pre-treatment steps to make the biomass more accessible, followed by techniques to extract, dissolve or remove specific components.

Wood-based bioproducts have several benefits. They:

are high value
are biodegradable and can replace fossil-based products
use by-products and waste materials from other processes.

Reports into the wood processing industry

Options to support the scale-up of innovation in bioprocessing [PDF, 5 MB]
Sets out the options to support the commercialisation of bio-based products in New Zealand.
Bio-innovation pilot centre: Stocktake of current capabilities to support the commercialisation of bio-based products in Aotearoa New Zealand and other observations from the hackathon [PDF, 15 MB]
Considers the potential for a bio-innovation pilot centre in New Zealand. It includes a review of the country’s current bioprocessing facilities.
Map and directory of bio-innovation pilot facilities in Aotearoa New Zealand [PDF, 355 KB]
Contains locations and organisational details of bio-innovation pilot facilities in New Zealand.
Investment in the use of commercial forest biomass to move New Zealand towards carbon-zero [PDF, 7.1 MB]
This research report (Stage 1 of the Wood Fibre Futures Project) looks into wood processing and biofuel opportunities in NZ. (September 2020)
New Zealand Wood Fibre Futures Project – Stage 2 final main report [PDF, 9.2 MB]
Proposes how various types of wood processing and biofuel plants might be established in NZ from 2024 to 2040, and how the government might encourage investment in plants. (April 2022)
Carbon footprint of New Zealand buildings [PDF, 402 KB]
A report measuring the embodied carbon benefits (emissions of a building during its lifespan) of increasing the number of timber buildings in NZ. (PLT Structural Consultants, 2021)
Wood manufacturing clusters international case studies [PDF, 5.8 MB]
This report reviews the experiences of 13 countries that are taking very different approaches in adding value to their forestry resource, centred on regional clustering. (Cluster Navigators, 2022)

Find out more

Wood production and stock levels in New Zealand

Diagram of New Zealand’s forestry and wood processing supply chain [PDF, 480 KB]

New Zealand log grades for radiata pine, and what they are used for

Who to contact

If you have questions, email teururakau@mpi.govt.nz

On this page