12 Jul 2012

Slow progress for proposed log levy

2:24 pm on 12 July 2012

The Forest Owners Association is pressing on with a proposed levy on logs.

The association is seeking the compulsory levy of about 20 cents a log at the time of harvest, which would bring in about $4 million a year.

At present, two-thirds of the country's forest owners pay a voluntary fee which covers the costs of research and marketing.

The association had hoped to put the levy proposal to the vote by the middle of this year but chief executive David Rhodes says that's been pushed back to later this year.

"Levies are not unusual in the primary industry but for forestry, where you're dealing with a levy that might only be applied every 30 years as opposed to every year, it does raise some issues, so we've had to work our way through those ones."

There are 26 commodity levies across the rural sector.