OIO approves Hunterville forest sale
The sale of a Rangitikei forest to a Chinese buyer has been approved by the Overseas Investment Office.
In a decision released on Thursday, the office (OIO) granted consent for the sale of the 222-hectare Pinehills Forest, near Hunterville, to China Forestry Group NZ Ltd.
The value of the sale was not disclosed. The land is currently owned by Pinehills Forest Ltd, an 80 per cent New Zealand-owned company.
About 200ha is a commercial pine forest, established in 1997, with the remaining land a mix of native vegetation, other exotic trees and unplantable terrain. Beijing-headquartered China Forestry Group (CFG) planned to reduce the stocked area by about 2ha to set up harvest infrastructure. After harvesting the existing crop, the land would be replanted, the OIO said.
Consent for the sale was granted under a special forestry test introduced by the Government in October 2018 to smooth the pathway for foreign investment in forestry.
There are three main tests for forestry deals, the simplest being when the land will be used nearly exclusively for forestry, replanting, and maintaining public access, biodiversity protection, Forestry Stewardship Council certification, and local iwi access.
A second test is when investors are unable to maintain existing arrangements for things like public access. The most complex test is when an overseas buyer wants to use the land for forestry and other farming, and must address 21 benefit factors based on economic and recreational benefits.
Last October, CFG was also granted consent to buy 926ha at Highfield, Kai Iwi and Kirikopuni Forests in the North Island, for $27.8 million. That purchase was from British company Utaraya Finance and included a total of 708ha in radiata pine, which CFG planned to begin harvesting this year and would replant.