South Africa is near the limit of its timber production capacity, warn forestry experts. It is a looming problem masked by lower demand, especially from the construction industry, says Cori Ham, a lecturer at Stellenbosch University's department of forest & wood science. The forestry industry wants to expand, says Roy Southey, chairman of industry body Forestry SA's marketing arm, the. But the number of trees that can be planted is limited by climatic conditions. "Constraints include other land uses such as crop farming and conservation". Maybe suggesting that crop farming and protected areas could provide the needed land for wood plantations.