The forestry industry is as busy as it has ever been with Port Otago on track to equal or better its log exports this year.
The industry has recovered from a dip last year to quickly regain the momentum it had in 2011 when a record 700,000cu m of logs were shipped out of Port Chalmers.
Port Otago chief executive Peter Brown said volumes had increased 250% on what it was five years ago and they were busier right now than they had ever been.
''It is too soon to say but it will be around that level [700,000cu m],'' Mr Brown said.
Southern Wood Council chairman Grant Dodson said the industry was ''tracking very well'' with modest shipping costs and reasonable export log prices helping to offset the high exchange rate.
''There is certainly an increase in wood lot harvesting at the moment with wood prices being strong.
''A lot of forest owners with a single crop tend to wait for favourable conditions before they harvest that single crop.''
He said the volume of harvesting would peak in about 2020, reflecting a lot of private planting that went on in the 1990s.
Large forest owners in Otago were already harvesting at sustainable levels so their volumes would not change much in the coming years.
He said the domestic market for logs was also good and the three big timber mills were quite busy, boosting the Otago economy.
''There are strong exports out of Otago. There's good harvesting activity around the region and I think most people who invested in wood and are harvesting at the moment, will be reasonably happy with their returns on average.''
He said the dairy farming boom had seen some forestry land converted in the past decade but it was not a massive issue in Otago and would not affect the industry significantly.
