The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) requires that logs must be loaded onto ships within 36 hours of fumigation. If the ship does not depart within 36 hours, the fumigation must be redone. The related logistics dictate that methyl bromide treatments must occur close to the ship onto which they will be loaded.

Phytos operates within New Zealand’s forestry sector to enhance market access through world leading phytosanitary solutions. We bring together government, research, treatment and supply chain organisations with a view to aligning work to enhance market access solutions, coordinate trade advocacy and communications, and support phytosanitary access to new markets.

Phytosanitary treatments are prescribed by importing countries to reduce the likelihood of unwanted pests arriving in their country and establishing. New Zealand prescribes phytosanitary treatments for all plant materials and products imported into New Zealand to protect our environment, people, taonga and economy. Other countries have the right to do the same for products they import, such as those from our forest and horticulture products.

China is the largest importer of New Zealand logs making up around 95 percent of total imports. China has currently approved methyl bromide, phosphine and debarking as phytosanitary treatments. India has currently only approved methyl bromide. 

Phosphine is widely used as a grain fumigant. It is also an industrial gas used in silicon chip manufacture, an air pollutant and a natural product of swamps and sewers. Phosphine is a cost-effective treatment. Its major disadvantage is its slow action (3 to 10 days for fumigation). Consequently, it is used as an in-hold (while the ship travels to market) log treatment or silo treatment for grains. China allows New Zealand to use phosphine as a phytosanitary treatment for logs. No other trading New Zealand partner accepts phosphine as a phytosanitary treatment.

EDN® is an ozone-friendly alternative to methyl bromide. Its advantages are better penetration characteristics, higher efficacy and shorter application time. EDN® limits the risks of pests and disease spreading within the agricultural and timber industry. It can be used to sterilise soil and control insects, diseases, nematodes, weeds and other parasites, before planting. It can also be used to fumigate harvested timber and logs. Its excellent penetration characteristics and high efficacy make EDN® a great solution for eliminating wood-boring insects in timber as well as pathogens and nematodes which present a direct biosecurity risk to many importing countries.

Methyl bromide (CH3Br) is a colourless, odourless, non-flammable gas that is produced both industrially and by natural biological processes. Significant quantities – greater than produced for use in fumigations – are produced by natural sources, including the ocean, some plants, fungi and soil. Automobile emissions, burning of biomass and biofuel production also produce methyl bromide. Methyl bromide is manufactured for use at higher than the naturally occurring concentrations to kill unwanted pests associated with the movement of goods internationally.