2019 International Forest Industries Magazine December / January IFI Dec Jan 2019 Digital | Page 13

LOGGING & BIOMASS NEWS ArborGen and Gerdau sign Brazil agreement ArborGen has entered into an agreement with Gerdau Aços Longos S.A. (Gerdau) that gives ArborGen exclusive rights to develop and commercialize Gerdau’s genetically improved eucalyptus clones in Brazil. The partnership will expand the products ArborGen can offer its customers and allow it to expand into new markets. The company began offering Gerdau seedlings in November 2018. ArborGen is one of the largest sellers of eucalyptus and pine trees seedlings in Brazil. It already has exclusive rights to commercialize International Paper’s eucalyptus clones in Brazil and is developing its own proprietary clones as well. Working primarily through contract nurseries, ArborGen’s eucalyptus products are already available in Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo and Paraná states. “This expanded agreement allows ArborGen to address important markets such as Minas Gerais and Bahia. The new clones offers growers high wood density and excellent yield, making them ideal for charcoal and energy Gabriela Monnerat, general manager of ArborGen Brazil markets,” said Gabriela Monnerat, general manager of ArborGen Brazil. Chippertruck 2.0  Advancing without decoupling Norske Skog to invest in NZ  Automatic transmission for unrivalled driving comfort The Norske Skog group has decided to invest about A$ 7 million ($5 million) to upgrade the Nature’s Flame wood pellets facility in New Zealand to more than double its annual production capacity to 85,000 tonnes. The increased production capacity will be commissioned in the 4Q 2019. The approval of the 85,000 tonne capacity upgrade is also a building block for potential further expansion of Norske Skog’s pellet operations in New Zealand. Eric Luck, Regional President Norske Skog Australasia, comments: “The investment supports Norske Skog Australasia’s ongoing strategy to “Build Our Future from Fibre and Energy”. The additional production capacity is aimed at producing premium industrial grade pellet fuels for both the domestic New Zealand commercial and industrial market, as well as for the rapidly growing Japanese and Korean green energy generation markets.” Nature’s Flame’s state of the art plant at Taupo was acquired by Norske Skog in 2015, and is well positioned in the centre of the north island where the bulk of New Zealand’s forest based industry is located. Wood pellets produced by Nature’s Flame are a premium heating fuel made from wood residues from nearby timber processing facilities.  New easy2 controller JENZ GmbH Maschinen- und Fahrzeugbau Wegholmer Straße 14 ∙ 32469 Petershagen ∙ Germany +49 (0) 5704 / 9409-0 ∙ [email protected] ∙ www.jenz.de Jenz_IFI_Anz_120x184.indd 1 International Forest Industries | DECEMBER 2018 / JANUARY 2019 11 07.12.2018 12:15:23