Steady Recovery, New Beginnings and a Look Ahead to the SSA AGM

I start this month’s newsletter on a very sad note. Our much-loved and respected colleague, Louis du Plessis, passed away on Saturday, 25th April. Louis had taken over the family business, NewSaw and grown it into a highly respected supplier of sawmilling solutions to our industry. Louis and the expertise that he brought to our industry will be sorely missed. I personally will miss his infectious enthusiasm for sawmilling and great sense of humour.

On a more positive note, our sawmillers can expect a slightly “warmer” winter this year as lumber sales volumes continue to edge upward in 2026. This comes after most mills are reporting better-than-expected sales volumes, still not up to the 2019 volumes, but the recovery is encouraging. The next step will be to see average selling prices (ASP) move in the same direction!

Four months into the year, and it’s nearly time for our AGM – 10 June 2026 at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa Campus (that’s the one with the beautiful timber auditorium).

This year’s SSA AGM, hosted alongside the “Doing Business with Finland” session, offers members a forward-looking programme focused on investment, innovation, and growth across the sawmilling value chain. From international market opportunities and funding mechanisms to the latest in wood processing technologies and automation, the programme brings together global expertise and practical insights to support the sector’s next phase of development.

In other news, the merger of PG Bison’s Southern Cape assets with those of MTO Forestry is reported to have received approval from the Competition Commission. This paves the way for the establishment of a new entity in the region, expected to operate as Cape Forest Products (CFP). While it is still early days and many details of the merger remain to be finalised, further information is anticipated in due course. I think that this is a very positive development for sawmilling in the Southern Cape.

April also saw Samantha Choles, our communications consultant, and I visiting some sawmills in the Eastern and Southern Cape. Tracey Beek joined us on the last day for a visit to MTO in George, where they got to see how a sawmill converts a tree into beautiful square-cut lumber that ends up in and on our homes.

We also had a NMU (Saasveld) advisory board meeting in the month, as well as a Forestry Masterplan meeting, both of which I am pleased to say went off well.

That’s all, folks. As always, keep cutting straight and drying flat and you will be able to sell more timber!

Cheers,
Roy Southey
Executive Director: Sawmilling South Africa

Source: SSA April Newsletter