The South Australian Government says the south-east timber industry will have to change its business model if it is to remain competitive.

Manufacturing Minister Tom Kenyon released a second draft report exploring future options for the industry, including biofuel production, at a meeting in Mount Gambier last night.

He also announced two funding grants, with $7.8 million offered to Timberlink's Tarpeena sawmill and $80,000 for an innovation program.

Mr Kenyon says that program includes workshops to help timber companies broaden their expertise.

"What we're trying to do is to get companies to look past just selling a product to a customer but how to keep making money out of the product they've sold," he said.

"So a service industry around the products so can they make money once by selling a product to a customer and then make more money out of it by selling services to assist with the use of that product."

Mr Kenyon says timber companies must look to new markets interstate and overseas if they want to remain competitive.

"There's all that wood there and if we're going to not use it that's going to be a disaster so ... it's time to reinvent ourselves a little bit, to look for broader markets, to lift our eyes from where we've been and what we've always done and what we're comfortable with to new markets, new products, new services," he said.

Source: Yahoo 7 news

Posted and edited by Hanbao News Department

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