High-end organics material prepping is gaining in importance – given the strict requirements of natural fertilizer laws and other quality guidelines, going forward only high-quality compost or fermented products will be marketable.

One major factor is the removal of contraries and foreign matter, which will unfortunately continue to find their way into the organic waste stream in higher amounts. Plastic, glass and metal are the major culprits. They are visible in the final product and reduce its public acceptance. This has given rise to some quite rigid limit values, which place high demands on feedstock preparation. We offer a range of machines ideally configured to deal with those issues. New developments have made these machines even more powerful.

Focus on optimizing preparation processes
The material prepping process is the first step, because the quality of the output depends on the quality of the input. One way to facilitate the process is to use a low-speed machine to shred the input. Examples are the Terminator single-shaft shredder and Crambo dual-shaft shredder, both of which are offered in mobile and stationary versions.

The Crambo has proven very effective with severely contaminated organic waste. In its extra-large shredding chamber, two 2.8 m counterrotating toothed drums ensure positive feed. They open up the material to expose foreign items and contraries, but don’t shred them smaller than necessary. This makes these materials much easier to deal with downstream in the treatment process. With the very heterogeneous and packaged material typical of organic input, only the Crambo can greatly reduce oversizes and reliably open packages, greatly facilitating downstream processes. Another approach is to pre-screen input prior to shredding, to remove contraries like packaging right from the start.

Separation can take place at the end of the process chain
At the end of the process, in addition to screening with star or drum screens, a wind sifter like the Hurrikan or a stone separator like the Stonefex is an invaluable piece of equipment. While the Hurrikan can remove light contraries like plastic film, the Stonefex separates out heavy and hard items like stones and hard plastic. If the input material contains both kinds of contraries, both machines can be readily combined.

New technology: Practical use counts
One of the most interesting new machines for organic waste prepping is the Metalfex non-ferrous metal separator. Like the Stonefex and Hurrikan, the Metalfex greatly improves product quality at the end of the process chain. An optional ferrous separator can also be installed. Three different mobility configurations make it a very flexible technology. We also updated our screening offerings.

Based on the successful Nemus 2700, the Nemus 3000 is a drum screener that sets a new standard in maintenance and service-friendliness. Longer discharge belts and the ability to use screen drums from competitor machines are further benefits of this thoroughly practical new machine.

Visit: Komptech

New Zealand’s export log market took a hit from the trade dispute between the US and China as the declining value of the yuan crimps the buying power of the country’s largest log market.

The average price for New Zealand A-grade export logs dropped to US$133/JAS from US$141/JAS in August, and US$145/JAS in July, and is now the lowest since June 2017, according to AgriHQ’s Forestry Market Report for September.

“The Chinese log market has again dominated talk in the NZ forestry industry amid its sudden depreciation these past two months. Purely from a data perspective August and early September don’t make for pretty reading,” AgriHQ analyst Reece Brick said in his report. “All of this weakness is directly related to the reduction in Chinese buying power, itself due to the depreciation of the CNY:USD.”

The yuan has depreciated 7.5 percent since mid-June, recently trading at 6.8763 per US dollar. Still, Brick said that despite the fall, market sentiment has stayed “quite positive” as factors such as port-level inventories, offtake rates and shipping rates otherwise point towards healthy fundamentals for New Zealand log trading in China.

“Consensus among the majority of traders is that we’ve settled at the bottom of the market for at least the time being,” he said. Chinese demand for New Zealand logs has been strong over recent years after Asia’s largest economy clamped down on the harvesting of its own forests and reduced tariffs on imported logs to meet demand in its local market. However, trade tensions between the US and China have dented the value of the Chinese currency and traders fear rising tariffs will hurt economic growth and dampen demand.

“What the future looks like will largely be dictated by the actions of the Trump administration,” Brick said. “The latest round of 10 percent tariffs covering US$200 billion of Chinese products is yet to be felt within the log industry. The main headache, however, is that there’s no end in sight for the trade war. It’s expected the latest tariffs will be lifted to 25 percent by Christmas, while Trump has threatened to extend these tariffs to another US$267 billion worth of Chinese products.

“Given log demand is so closely tied to economic growth, we can only hope these two power-houses can settle their differences sooner rather than later. Just don’t count on it,” he said.

Brick noted that neither India nor South Korea, New Zealand’s other major log markets, have provided any significant relief for exporters either. However, he noted the weaker New Zealand exchange rate against the US dollar had offered some protection for local export traders against the depreciation within China.

Source: BusinessDesk

U.S. log exports reached 4.29 million m3 through April, up 12.5% from the first four months of 2017, according to the USDA data. The value of exports increased 18.2% vs. year-ago figures to $913.9 million, and the average export price gained 5.0% to $213 per cubic meter.

In January-April 2018, the U.S. log exports to China increased 19.5% to 2.17 million m3, and the average price for U.S logs in China up 3.6% to $236 per cubic meter. The log exports to Canada was up 4.5% to 1.10 million m3, average price up 6.7% to $101 per cubic meter. Exports to Japan gained 4.5% to 645.14 thousand m3, and average price jumped 16.0% to $256 per m3.