Sawmills urged to have their say on MAF Standards

New Zealand’s billion dollar log and timber industry relies on overseas borders remaining open to our forestry products.

While the red tape associated with exporting forestry goods can be frustrating and time-consuming for sawmill operators, it is a crucial process.

MAF BNZ’s Export Certification Scheme – which is currently up for review – is designed to guarantee the safety and quality of our forestry products to foreign markets.

Overseas importers must be confident that our timber and logs are free of insects, soil, fungus and bark. Any concerns (which have been raised in a few instances by China already this year) can have catastrophic consequences for our entire forestry export industry if the boarders are closed.

But some sawmills have struggled to understand the standards under MAF BNZ’s Export Certification Scheme and how best to comply with them. In the two years they have been operating, many companies have tied themselves up in knots about how they should meet organisational requirements, and standards for inspection, treatment, ISPM 15 for packaging and phytosanitary documentation (Ecert).

During the current review MAF BNZ wants to know what areas of the scheme and its associated standards can be improved, what problems sawmills have encountered, what’s working well, and what should be done differently to make life easier for all concerned.
IVA’s such as Independent Verification Services (IVS) have already been consulted, and are happy to pass on feedback from sawmill operators directly to MAF BNZ during the review process.

IVS’ Certification Manager David Baker says the right to conduct phytosanitary activities means sawmills have been delegated authority to act on behalf of MAF BNZ.

“That’s why there’s such rigour behind these standards. They have to be confident that you can work effectively and responsibly on their behalf."

“Our whole exporting system is based on confidence. If that confidence is lost or decreased, the importing country has every right to impose tougher regulations when we send them product or just close the boarder all together.”

Mr Baker said MAF BNZ’s Export Certification Scheme is about retaining the confidence of our destination markets while still being pragmatic and cost-effective for New Zealand exporters. “It’s a real balancing act.”
When the current standards were put in place in 2007, there was a review process. But feedback wasn’t forthcoming because people were busy coming to grips with the system and trying to understand it themselves.

MAF BNZ now feels that companies have had sufficient time to work with the standards and the system should be reviewed and streamlined.

Mr Baker said many sawmills have encountered problems over the past two years, such as calibrating lights in inspection areas and the temperature bulbs inside kilns. All measuring equipment used in phytosanitary work has to be calibrated and verified annually. There are a number of methods of doing so, but many cost time, money and can be plain unreliable. Placing kiln bulbs in boiling water to determine if there’s any difference in their readings from 100°C is one option some sawmills have chosen, Mr Baker said.

“The problem with that is it’s hard to get the bulbs into boiling water, it can be dangerous and it can also be inaccurate because boiling point decreases with altitude so it depends whereabouts in New Zealand the sawmill and kiln are located.” Submerging bulbs in ice slurries to test how accurate their readings are also has its difficulties. Many mills have avoided such problems by simply testing light levels and temperature bulbs with calibrated reference meters themselves or by having IVS do it during a routine audit.

“IVS has been fielding many questions on the interpretation of these standards over the past two years – what they are, and what they mean. We’ve also been working with MAF BNZ to make small changes along the way to help our clients save valuable time and money when trying to meet these standards.”

After some discussion MAF BNZ recently agreed to IVS’ suggestion that kiln-dried material doesn’t need to be inspected if a company can prove there’s no risk of bark or soil contamination.

“Anything present at the time of kiln sterilisation will be killed but the presence of bark and soil attracts pests so could facilitate re-infestation of a product,” Mr Baker explained. “However, if a company can prove there’s no risk of bark or soil being present in the first place then there’s no need to inspect kiln-sterilised timber."

“We’ve been talking to MAF BNZ about that idea for some time and they’ve recently agreed it is an acceptable approach to take providing sawmills can prove their case and update their systems accordingly.”

Other issues relating to the Export Certification Scheme which have already been bought to IVS’ attention include the extent to which some sawmills have documented their processes.

“Some manuals are over-complicated,” Mr Baker said. “All that is required is for sawmills to explain how they are going to achieve the desired outcomes. They can be as flexible and innovative as they like in how they go about it. They don’t need to write screeds of information.”

Another common misconception within the industry is the need for staff to be trained externally under the MAF BNZ standards, Mr Baker said. “Sawmills can do their training and assessment internally if they want to. Many find that is the easiest and cheapest option for them.”

In addition to passing feedback onto organisations like IVS, sawmills are also welcome to contact industry bodies such as the Timber Industry Federation, Wood Processors Association, Forestry Producers Export Council, NZ Pine or the NZ Forest Owners Association, to have their say on how the Export Certification Scheme should operate in future.

MAF BNZ is aiming to compile a consultation document over the coming months and after industry feedback has been received, will look at refining the standards for future use.

August 2009

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