"We are witnessing a real environmental 'revolution' with the management of the forests"
April 29, 2010
Within the forestry sector, towards what kind of machinery is it tending?
The user of forestry machinery has currently a varied offer?
Yes, if we take into account several factors. The first, relating to the present and future of this type of work, looking for new ways of development and implementation. The second is due to the idiosyncrasies of the sector of forestry mechanization, gardening and green areas, among which we note diffuse borders that many companies marketing products in all these subsectors of mechanization.
Another factor which would favour this differentiated offer would be clear duality existing between the mechanization directed to professional users and for the segment of the hobby, gasoline-powered motorization and the power supply. Between portable machinery and dragged, suspended or automotive machinery. The offer therefore has to be varied in order to cover all these aspects and needs.
What numbers has it yielded the year 2009 in the sector of forestry machinery in our country?
The decline of the market is situated in margins between 2% - 20%, depending on product ranges. The year began with negative data due to the inertia of fall, which began in the second half of 2008, with falls around 10%. The fall of the real estate sector, and especially of consumption, made that this type of machinery markets reduce.
Forest machinery has referred to problems in some ranges of products such as chainsaws, by the fall of the wood, with low prices and inadequate exploitation policies sector. Other clearing work and cleaning, vary your offer depending on the weather and fire prevention, but it was hoped that the desbrozadoras, motoguadañas and other similar machines might have a better market due to the large percentage of rainfall.
In general the reduction of stocks has been a difficult year, because of the problems of liquidity for businesses and consumers, and perhaps those who have gone through worst moments have been big business of forestry work, municipal or State enterprises. As data curious to note that you increased work in workshops, opting for maintenance before that investment in new equipment.
One of the biggest concerns is still selling illegal equipment. What is and what solutions can be taken to avoid that such transactions are carried out?
The buyer usually compare various factors when making a purchase decision: evaluates the price, quality, safety, the image, but in most of the time raw only the price to other factors which should be the determinants. Consumers acquire a machine without guarantees, unsafe, polluting, but much cheaper, though it has no network of specialized distribution or after-sales service. The sale of a product which has not passed the most basic controls, not manufacturing, quality and conformity of production, but also to entry or of marketing in our country, it is illegal. That distorts the market, lowers the image and quality of the brands and trade is, is above all, a danger to users.
Control all this it makes it extremely difficult because the material comes from both within and outside the EU borders. When manage to reach the dealer you are sold by itinerant merchants in markets or in fields, villages, hotels, etc. It is therefore a difficult problem to tackle, and would be useful to put pressure on the import in origin, which further away the radius of action of the competent institutions. Fortunately, the bodies of State security, are acting with great professionalism and increasingly manage to stop more sales.
Meanwhile, companies and associations make a work training, moved to commercial networks and consumers the differences between the official and legal machinery and the illegal and copied.
Does that mean that much of the machinery that is sold as secure and to protect the environment, in reality it is not?
Say 'much' would be to generalize too much a scourge against which it is fighting. Trade in this type of equipment is important, but marginal precisely because of the fence that you are putting the authorities and the difficulty to know the channels for the sale of this type of machinery.
What European markets must take as an example?
Despite the large area of forest in our country, the management is not as effective as it should. Spain is among the Member States with the highest proportion of forests with respect to its total length, 28 million hectares or 57% of its territory, only behind Sweden with 30.9 million hectares (75 per cent of its territory), and in this case ahead of other countries with greater weight in forestry work, such as France, with 17.3 million hectares or Germany with 11 million, respectively. However, countries such as the Gaul, have a higher than the Spanish wood production.
If we take into account this fact, we understand the importance of conducting this type of work with the appropriate means. The rest of European countries take us advantage. Only it should be noted that in what refers to forestry machinery and gardening, where our country is importing.
Had both the previous and the current Government become aware of what it means to have a good fleet of machines that clean up our forests?
Taking into account the fragmentation of the sector, made up of small and medium-sized companies that grow along with the landscape that manage, it is essential that the various public administrations strive to support small owners and push the management of certified companies. Awareness has benefited in this sector, but the costs of production certification and management of such materials, they reduce investment in equipment. The great challenge of forest management, which has a strong component of environmental management, is based on adequate legislation, which gradually apply the various autonomous communities, as well as the use of appropriate means to perform maintenance on the forests. And this, it can be done through adequate equipment.
