The government will speed up the development of plantation forests (HTI) in a bid to increase the country's export capacity for pulp, an official of the forestry ministry said, quoted by Asia Pulse<\/p>\n
Next year, the government targets expansion of HTI by 9 million hectares and by 15 million hectares in 2012, HTI Director Bejo Santosa said.<\/p>\n
The expansion will guarantee supply of feedstock for wood pulp and wood working industries, Santosa told the newspaper Investor Daily, saying the country's pulp industry needs around 30 million cubic meters of tree logs a year.<\/p>\n
Indonesia already had 30 million hectares of HTI, the paper quoted Santosa as saying.<\/p>\n
Until June 2008, the forestry ministry already issued license to 249 companies to operate a total of 6.3 million hectares of HTI to 249 companies.<\/p>\n
Rudy Fajar, president of PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper, one of the country's largest pulp makers, said Indonesia should take advantage of the increase in the prices of pulp in the world market.<\/p>\n
Prices of pulp have surged as supply has been shrinking with the widespread closure of pulp factories in the United States over difficulty in securing feedstock.<\/p>\n
HTI expansion could place Indonesia among the five largest producers of pulp in the world, Fajar said.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-to-expand-plantation-forests-1214902757", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }