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Tasmania has a long history of forest management and harvesting. With this history is the industrial base and people who have operated in the industry. Some of the companies operating today have been around for a long time, Gunns Pty Ltd and Forestry Tasmania (previously Forestry Commission of Tasmania) being two examples. Nonetheless the Tasmanian industry has a broad range of ownership profiles consisting of local, interstate and overseas companies.

Forestry Tasmania 

Forestry Tasmania is a Government Business Enterprise established under the Forestry Act 1920.

Forestry Tasmania manages 1.5 million hectares of State Forest and is committed to delivering sustainable forest management. It has a legislated requirement to produce 300,000 cubic metres of high quality sawlog per annum. Forestry Tasmania has significant hardwood plantings and a 50% joint venture partnership with GMO Renewable Resources of the softwood plantations on State Forest in the North-east and North-west of the State.

Less than half the forest managed by Forestry Tasmania is available for sustainable timber production. It also manages significant areas of Forest Reserves.

Gunns Limited 

Gunns Limited is Australia's largest hardwood producer, operating five sawmills (softwood and hardwood) throughout the State. Gunns also operates a veneer factory and four processing facilities and loading ports are operated at three locations around Tasmania - Burnie, Bell Bay and Triabunna. Gunns is one of Australia's largest private plantation owner / managers, with about 110,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantation under management, mostly in Tasmania.

Forest Enterprises Australia

Forest Enterprises Australia (FEA) manages approximately 42,000 hectares of forest areas in Tasmania, new South Wales and Queensland on behalf of growers. In January 2007 FEA secured a long-term supply of softwood resources from Taswood Growers. As a result, in February 2008 FEA opened its new $72 million sawmill at Bell Bay. The sawmill has a target processing volume of 400,000 tonnes of EcoAsh* and BassPine* in the first twelve months of operation.

* branded sawn timber products

Taswood Growers

Taswood Growers is a joint venture between Forestry Tasmania and GMO Renewable Resources which own 42,000 hectares of radiata pine forest. Timberlands Pacific Pty Ltd is the manager for Taswood Growers. Taswood's pine forest estate provides around 800,000 tonnes of wood products annually with Tasmanian mills processing around 80% of this resource.

Norske Skog 

Norske Skog is a world leading producer of newsprint and magazine paper. At the Boyer Paper Mill near New Norfolk the principal focus is making newsprint. The Boyer mill uses plantation radiata pine, regrowth eucalypt and recycled fibre to make around 290,000 tonnes of newsprint and related grades annually. This represents about 40% of Australian consumption. Other products, such as sawlogs, export chip and veneer are also produced from the plantation and native forest estate managed by Norske Skog.

Timberlands Pacific Pty Ltd

Timberlands Pacific Pty Ltd manages Taswood Growers' 46,000 hectare Radiata Pine forest in Tasmania. This estate provides around 600,000 tonnes of wood products annually with Tasmanian customers processing the majority of this resource. Taswood Growers is a joint venture between Forestry Tasmania and the United States-based investment company, GMO Renewable Resources LLC.

Australian Paper

Australian Paper operates a number of paper mills across Australia.

In Tasmania it operates paper mills at Burnie and Wesley Vale. The Burnie Mill produces up to 130,000 tonnes of paper per year in a range of copy, laser and offset printing papers as well as coating base for the Wesley Vale Mill operations.

The Wesley Vale site operates one paper machine, which includes an on-line coating operation, as well as a single and double coating machine. The Wesley Vale Mill produces a range of single and double-coated magazine and catalogue papers, single and double-coated art papers, label papers and book papers.

The mills are supported by two on-site mechanical pulp mills.

Ta Ann Tasmania

Ta Ann Holdings is a Malaysian based company with a large interest in plywood production.

In 2007 Ta Ann Tasmania opened a mill at Southwood near Geeveston to process eucalypt logs that were previously going into the pulpwood market to be made into veneer. This veneer is being exported to a plywood plant in Malaysia, which produces finished product for the Japanese market.

A second mill at Smithton in the North-west of the State commenced production in December 2008.

ITC Timber Pty Ltd

ITC Timber is one of Australia's largest hardwood plantation forestry managers and timber processors, with in excess of 160,000 hectares of plantations under management across Australia and a solidwood conversion capacity of 250,000 cubic metres per annum.

ITC's principal Tasmanian interest is in eucalypt sawmilling. The centre of it's operations is a sawmill, cutting regrowth timber at Southwood near Geeveston. The output of this mill is processed in Launceston.

Other Tasmanian timber companies

The Forests and Forestry Industry Council of Tasmania provides a list of Tasmanian timber companies.