Export of rattan not profitable

Export of rattan not profitable

JAKARTA (JP): Few rattan traders have entered overseas markets despite the government's removal of its rattan export ban last month, a minister has said.

Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said yesterday that overseas markets for raw and processed rattan were not as promising as several years ago.

He said many rattan furniture companies in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have closed their operations after Indonesia, the main supplier of raw rattan in the world, banned the export of raw and semi-finished rattan in 1989.

"That's why selling rattan overseas is no longer attractive," the minister said.

He said the ban not only hit the rattan industry overseas but also domestic rattan furniture producers because the export restriction caused a sharp drop in the price of rattan furniture in the domestic market.

"The situation also forced most rattan gatherers to stop collecting rattan in forests and instead work in the illegal timber trade," Djamaludin said.

He said before the government ban, the price of thin rattan was Rp 600 per kilogram and Rp 2,000 per kilogram for thick rattan. Currently thick rattan sells for Rp 200 per kilogram, a price that cannot meet gatherers' operational costs.

"The supply of raw rattan for the furniture industry has dried up due to a sharp decrease in the number of rattan gatherers," he said.

Djamaludin added that most traditional rattan-processing industries in Kalimantan and Sulawesi -- which produced mainly semi-finished rattan -- and rattan furniture industries in Java have gone bankrupt.

He said the number of rattan processors in Sulawesi have fallen by over 25 percent and in Kalimantan by over 50 percent in the eight years following the ban.

Exports of rattan-related products fell 21 percent to US$286 million last year from $360 million in 1996, of which about 32 percent were exported to Japan.

Djamaludin said the growth of processed rattan exports has declined by 20 percent per year in the past five years due to the scarcity of raw rattan.

The government reduced export taxes on rattan to a maximum of 10 percent from Feb. 1 as a part of reforms agreed to with the International Monetary Fund.

The government ban on the export of raw and semi-finished rattan was aimed to promote the development of the country's furniture industry. (gis)