KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will ban imports of squared logs of more

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will ban imports of squared logs of more than 60 square inches from Indonesia from June 1 in response to criticism the country was a laundering center for illegal timber, Primary Industries Minister Lim Keng Yaik said on Tuesday.

The ban on large scantlings and squares, or LSS, from Indonesia comes a year after the Malaysian government imposed a ban on imports of round logs from the neighboring country.

Malaysia will also tighten the issuance of import licenses, with importers required to show proof of legitimate export sources other than Indonesia, Lim said.

"We are making this drastic decision in the interest of the country as well as to erase the negative perception against our timber industry in particular," Lim told a news conference.

Malaysia has come under criticism from international environmental watchdogs for not doing enough to halt imports of illegal Indonesian logs. The country has also been labeled as a laundering center for illegal logs, Lim said.

Malaysia has been importing about 150,000 to 180,000 cubic meters of logs a year in the past few years, according to a speech presented by Lim at an industry event in early 2002. Domestic production of logs is more than 20 million cubic meters with exports totaling 4.1 million cubic meters in 2002. -- Dow Jones

Indonesian Minister Opposes Japan's Proposed Carbon Tax

JAKARTA: Indonesia's Mines and Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Tuesday the government is opposed to Japan's plan to impose a carbon tax on Indonesia's coal products.

He said the Indonesian government will ask the Japanese government to review the plan to impose a US$3 a metric ton tax.

"We can't accept such (a) carbon tax on our coal products," he told reporters, arguing the carbon tax will only help to increase Japan's revenue and unlikely will be used for environmental preservation purposes.

Purnomo said President Megawati Sukarnoputri will visit Japan in June and will then also ask the Japanese government to reconsider the plan to impose such a tax.

The tax is expected to come into force in October 2003. Indonesia exports an estimated 14 million tons a year of coal products to Japan. -- Dow Jones

French abandoned euro-zone 2006 target

BRUSSELS: The European Union's executive Commission has abandoned a target for euro-zone countries to balance their budgets by 2006, French Finance Minister Francis Mer said on Tuesday.

Alone of the 12 euro nations, France has held out against the target on the grounds that its priority must be reinvigorating its sluggish economy rather than tightening its belt.

But Mer insisted that France remained committed to the "spirit" of the euro group's Stability and Growth Pact, under which member states must keep their budget deficits under three percent of gross domestic product.

"The spirit of the pact has never been in doubt," he told reporters as EU finance ministers met in Brussels, adding that nobody was seeking to renegotiate the agreement and that the three-percent ceiling remained an important "symbol".

But as regards the 2006 target recommended by the European Commission, "everyone recognizes that putting a date on the table for its own sake doesn't accomplish anything", Mer said.

"The 2006 target has disappeared from Commission thinking," he claimed. -- AFP

Japanese machinery orders up 3.8% TOKYO: Japanese core private sector machinery orders in March rebounded a larger than expected 3.8 percent from February, when they fell a revised 6.8 percent, the government said on Tuesday.

The consensus estimate by private sector economists had been for a fall of 0.8 percent, JP Morgan economist Ryo Hino said.

"Capital spending continues to recover steadily at a moderate pace," he said.

On a year-on-year basis, machinery orders, excluding volatile shipbuilding and power generation equipment, rose 11.7 percent after rising 1.4 percent in February, the Cabinet Office said.

Machinery orders from manufacturers fell 0.6 percent from February while orders from non-manufacturers rose 2.4 percent, it said.

Orders for calculating machines, transportation machinery and electronic machinery led the increase, Cabinet official Susumu Kuwahara said.

Machinery orders, seen as a leading indicator for capital spending and gross domestic product (GDP), rose 5.8 percent in the January-March quarter from the three Months to December when they fell 0.1 percent.

Orders are expected to drop 10.5 percent in the current quarter but Susumu said the negative outlook may have exaggerated the impact of the Iraq war.

"This survey was taken at the end of March, when there was a great deal of uncertainty about the war in Iraq, so one should use caution when evaluating the figures," Susumu said. -- AFP