Forest export earnings to exceed $8b in 2000
Forest export earnings to exceed $8b in 2000
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Forestry Society (MPI) forecasts
the country's foreign exchange earnings from exports of wood and
other forest-related products this year to reach more than US$8
billion.
MPI executive director Kristiyono Fajari said on Sunday the
export target was comparatively the same as last year's target.
Kristiyono was optimistic that the 1999 export target could be
obtained despite the sluggish market between January and August
helped by higher international prices of pulp and paper products.
He was quoted by Antara as saying that prices of wood and
wood-related products had stabilized in November and started to
pick up in December.
Forest products, particularly plywood, have been one of
Indonesia's major non-oil and gas foreign exchange earners.
But plywood prices started to plunge in 1998 as the regional
economic crisis hit Japan and South Korea, the two main markets
for Indonesian plywood.
The average price of Indonesian plywood products in 1999 was
$310 per m3 compared to $470 per m3 in 1997.
Kristiyono said Indonesia's plywood export earnings from
January until August 1999 were $1.6 billion compared to the full
year target of $2.5 billion.
Kristiyono urged the government to delay the planned increase
in the so-called reforestation fee, reasoning that the increase
would have a serious impact on the domestic plywood industry.
He said that the country's plywood industry was still in a
difficult situation as the current market price of $310 per m3
for plywood was lower than the total production cost, including
the reforestation fee, of $314 per m3.
Reforestation fees and forest loyalties are mandatory fees
imposed by the government on forest concessionaires for every log
cut in their concession areas to ensure sustainable forest
management.
The size of the fee depends on the volume and type of timber
felled.
Several senior government officials have proposed an increased
in the reforestation fee. (rei)