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.