Bunbury Fibre Exports, formerly known as Hansol PI, was formed in 2002 to provide management, harvesting, processing and exporting services to the plantation timber industry. The company and its related company Bunbury Fibre Plantations has been establishing plantations in conjunction with South West landowners since 1993 and manages over 150 individual plantations, totalling over 14,600 hectares. In addition, the company has a processing and export facility, which opened in 2004 at the Port of Bunbury. The facility handles around 550,000 tonnes of woodchips each year. It exports mainly to Japan; major customers include Hokuetsu Paper and Daio Paper.
Bunbury Fibre Exports is wholly owned by Japan’s Mitsui, & Co through its Melbourne-based subsidiary Mitsui Bussan Woodchip Oceania. Mitsui Bussan acquired the company in 2011. Previous owners of the company were Nick Tana and Gary Inions, who had a 50 per cent stake through their entity Pulpwood International, and MIS promoter Great Southern Plantations, which bought Korean company Hansol HomeDeco’s 50 per cent stake in 2007.
