THE harvesting of pine trees for timber by the Fiji Pine Group has been put on hold, according to executive chairman Faiz Khan.
He said the weather forecast of heavy downpour today and tomorrow was of serious concern because the timber industry was still recovering from last year's floods and Tropical Cyclone Evan.
"Forest operations have been put on hold and our fingers are crossed that we don't face the same situation as last year," he said.
"If we have extremely heavy rainfall that results in landslides, I am dreading what that could do to us as a company. We have a lot of employees to look after and it is extremely difficult to recover from natural disasters.
"We did well last year by recovering on our own without any assistance but I don't think it will be that easy if it happens again."