Apkindo to increase panel wood production<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Indonesian Wood Panel
\nProducers, Apkindo, said yesterday domestic wood panel production
\nwould this year reach 10.5 million cubic meters.<\/p>\n
Executive Chairman A. Tjipto Wignjoprajitno said the industry
\nwould this year increase production and export volumes, a result
\nof better prices on the Chinese market and the large amount of
\nraw material supply on the domestic market.<\/p>\n
Tjipto said of the planned 10.5 million cubic meters
\nproduction volume, 1.2 million would be sold on the domestic
\nmarket and the remaining 9.3 million exported to various
\ncountries, including China.<\/p>\n
He said China's rising demand resulted from its improved
\neconomy. Secondary-process plywood factories in Taiwan, China's
\nmain supplier of secondary-process plywood, were also short of
\nraw materials.<\/p>\n
\"As a result, China needs wood panel in large amounts.\"<\/p>\n
The increase in demand has helped increase wood panel prices,
\nespecially secondary-process plywood, the downstream product of
\nplywood.<\/p>\n
Tjipto said he was optimistic China would be able to buy
\nIndonesia's wood panels because its foreign exchange reserves in
\n1995 reached US$31.5 billion and increased last year to $101
\nbillion.<\/p>\n
He expected China to import at least 1.8 million to 2 million
\ncubic meters of wood panel this year. He did not say how much
\nwould come from Indonesia, or Indonesia's export target to China
\nthis year.<\/p>\n
Tjipto said Indonesia's wood panel production would be able to
\nmeet this rising demand because there was likely to be sufficient
\nraw material supply this year.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's supplies come from the harvest of forest
\nconcessions, which will reach 22.5 million cubic meters this
\nyear, and timber from forest-clearing activities, expected to
\nreach 23 million cubic meters.<\/p>\n
\"Timber harvests from forest-clearing activities that have a
\ndiameter of 30 to 45 centimeters will total about 10 million
\ncubic meters this year, while smaller sized timber will reach
\nabout 13 million cubic meters,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said raw material supplies this year were expected to
\nexceed Apkindo's demand of about 19 million cubic meters per
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Tjipto said prices of Indonesia's wood panel on the
\ninternational market was currently $509 per cubic meter. Prices
\nof floor base wood panels were $535 a cubic meter, thin wood
\npanels (2.4 millimeters thick) were $580 a cubic meter while
\nconcrete panels were $465 per cubic meter.<\/p>\n
He said Indonesia's major competitor, Malaysia, could not
\ncompete with Indonesia because its current wood panel production
\nof 4.2 million to 4.5 million cubic meters had reached its
\nmaximum level. (pwn)<\/p>",
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