Forest agency, govt talk on timber supplies

Forest agency, govt talk on timber supplies

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

To resolve the shortage in raw material confronting the
country's forestry-based enterprises, the newly established
Forestry Industry Revitalization Agency (BRIK) is currently
engaged in talks with the government to match the industry's
timber needs and the country's forest capacity.

Head of the agency Soewarni said on Tuesday the move was aimed
to be the basis for the industry to restructure itself following
the government's plan to cut timber supplies in order to slow
down deforestation.

"The figure is needed not only to restructure our factories
but also to decide the selling price of our products," said
Soewarni.

This year, the Ministry of Forestry decided to curtail the
supply of timber as raw material for the industry to only 6.5
million cubic meters from last year's 12 million in order to
prevent further destruction of the country's forests.

The decision was greeted with strong objections from
businesspeople saying the move could jeopardize the industry as
the maximum capacity output of the industry reaches 63 million
cubic meters. This means, they said, many machines, which cost
millions of dollars, would be left idle.

The agency, which consists mainly of businesspeople from
timber companies, was set up in December last year based on a
joint decree signed by Minister of Trade and Industry Rini
Suwandi and Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa.

The agency, which was the brainchild of Rini, is intended to
help boost the export of the country's timber and timber-related
products, and resolve the problem of raw material shortages.

The agency, said Soewarni, would also team up with the
government to register all timber and timber-based companies in
order to identify dishonest firms which use illegally cut timber
in their production.

The registration was also aimed at selecting companies that
deserved licenses to export timber products. This will enable the
government to effectively supervise the export of timber
products.

She said the government was planning to limit the number of
companies licensed to export timber products to make it easier
for it to supervise them.

Today, supervision is weak so that many companies feel free to
buy illegally cut timber, she said.