Linking Timber Prices to International Rates
Daly argued that domestic timber prices should track international prices to compete with imports. The Minister said differing inflation and production costs make index-linking difficult; the Chair then deferred remaining questions.
Is the Minister aware of the difficulty in the way the system operates? Is it not important that the price of timber here should be index-linked to the international timber price so that timber prices here can compete favourably with international timber prices? It is cheaper to import timber and, unless we can index-link our prices with international prices, that will continue to be the case.
Comment on this
I am sure the Deputy is aware of the difficulties in index-linked pricing especially in relation to timber. The theory of index-linking would be fine if the same level of inflation and production costs applied across the board. As the Deputy is aware, that is not the case, and thereby hangs the difficulty in the index-linking approach. That is the problem.
