E. Kalimantan needs more rattan processing plants
E. Kalimantan needs more rattan processing plants
JAKARTA (JP): The Association of the Dayak Tribes in East
Kalimantan said yesterday they needed more processing plants to
boost semi-finished rattan exports in the province.
Rama Asia, an association executive, told Minister of Trade
and Industry Mohamad "Bob" Hasan in a meeting yesterday that East
Kalimantan, one of the country's largest producers of rattan,
needed government help to boost its rattan processing industry.
"We are urging the government to help us provide equipment to
process raw rattan into finished and semi-finished rattan," Rama
told reporters after the association's meeting here.
Without a modern processing industry, rattan producers in the
province would not be able to export their commodity, he said
Currently, rattan farmers and gatherers must sell their
products to processing companies in Java, mostly in Surabaya and
Cirebon, he said.
The factories bought the rattan at low prices, discouraging
rattan gatherers and farmers, he said.
"People do not want to invest in rattan processing in our area
because they would lose out to the processing factories in Java,"
he said.
Most traditional rattan-processing industries in Kalimantan
and Sulawesi, which processed mainly semi-finished rattan, went
bankrupt after the government imposed restrictions on raw and
semi-finished rattan through various fees and restrictions.
The restrictions, introduced in 1986 and 1988, lasted until
early this year when the government reduced export taxes as part
of reforms agreed with the International Monetary Fund.
The restrictions were designed to stimulate the development of
the domestic rattan industry but only prompted an oversupply of
rattan on the domestic market.
The depressed prices drove rattan farmers and gatherers to
abandon vast areas of cultivated rattan and go out of business.
Many of the rattan forests were converted into industrial timber
estates and palm oil plantations.
The ban also resulted in rampant smuggling of raw rattan to
Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Rama said that before the government restricted the exports,
East Kalimantan's rattan forest had the potential to export at
least 50,000 tons of rattan a year, he said.
But now, even after the export ban was lifted, it still could
not export the products directly, as the rattan had to be
processed in factories in Java, he said.
On April 22, the government reduced export taxes to 30
percent, and will gradually continue to reduce the taxes until
they reach 10 percent by the end of December 2000.
The tax reduction was followed by the removal of the export
marketing system, quotas for certain types of rattan, and levies
on rattan bound for export. (das)