Nichimen to import RI logs

Nichimen to import RI logs

OSAKA (Nikkei): Nichimen Corp. will resume importing logs from
Indonesia, company sources said Friday, according to The Nihon
Keizai Shimbun Saturday morning edition.

The transaction will be the first Japanese trading firm to do
so in 13 years, the newspaper said.

In compliance with International Monetary Fund demands for
economic liberalization, Jakarta has cut its export duty on raw
lumber to 30 percent and allowed local firms to export. The duty
will be further reduced in stages, to 10 percent by 2000, the
newspaper reported.

Nichimen expects to import 12,000 cu. meters of logs in
October and November. The f.o.b. price of 60cm circumference logs
will be $115-120 per cu. meter; smaller logs will average $90-95,
according to the newspaper.

Indonesia once supplied 50-60 percent of Japan's imports of
logs from Southeast Asia, but banned exports of raw lumber in
1985. In 1992, Jakarta lifted the export ban but imposed an
export duty of several hundred percent.