Victoria, through projects such as the biomanufacturing plans of Australian Paper in the Latrobe Valley, could lead Australia’s push into the emerging bio-economy, according to the annual report of the state’s forestry industry. In the interim, a key achievement of the past year was the opening of the new Radial Timber mill at Yarram in South Gippsland, said the Victorian Association of Forest Industries report, released on Friday. “The mill is a real boost for the local community, the wider Gippsland region and the timber industry in general,” said the report. …”The practice of sustainable harvesting and regeneration stores carbon in wood products, as well as in regrowth forests,” VAFI chief executive Tim Johnston said. Low emissions timber products also reduced demand for alternatives such as steel and concrete, which embody far greater carbon emissions in their manufacture, he said.