Perhutani to sell veneer straight to users
Perhutani to sell veneer straight to users
JAKARTA (JP): State forestry company Perum Perhutani said
yesterday that it would sell its veneer, a surface layer for
plywood products, directly to plywood producers from next month.
The company's marketing director, Bambang Soebijantoro, said
the contract given to PT Sari Permindo Lestari to distribute the
veneer to members of the Association of Indonesian Wood-panel
Producers (Apkindo) would expire on July 1.
"Plywood producers can buy veneer directly from Perum
Perhutani beginning July 1," Soebijantoro said, adding that the
decision was made to eliminate all market distortions in the
plywood business.
Perhutani at present is still required to sell 17,000 cubic
meters of its veneer production to PT Sari Permindo Lestari,
which then distributes the veneer products to Apkindo members.
Soebijantoro said the sale of the veneer products through Sari
Permindo, an Apkindo affiliate, has been widely criticized by
Apkindo members. Some received more than they needed while others
got less than they required, he said.
He said that for Perhutani, the requirement to sell more than
85 percent of its veneer products to Apkindo had prevented it
from benefiting from increasing prices in overseas markets.
"We could not export veneer because we had to supply Apkindo
members. The rest of our production was used by the state wood
industry," Soebijantoro said.
He said Perhutani produced around 20,000 cubic meters of
veneer annually, which made it the country's main producer of the
product.
Meanwhile, Soebijantoro said the company enjoyed a windfall in
its revenue due to the rupiah's sharp depreciation against the
U.S dollar.
He said that Perhutani reaped Rp 527.37 billion (US$37.67
million) in revenue from January until mid June this year, or
about 56 percent of its target for the year.
He added that the results were 40 percent higher than the Rp
375.21 billion for the same period last year.
"The increase in revenue was partly due to the increase in
teak wood prices in both local and overseas markets," Bambang
said.
He said that the company's exports from January until mid June
reached Rp 176.12 billion, up from Rp 105.75 billion in 1997.
Most of the increase came from selling US$60 million worth of
garden furniture overseas.
Bambang said that the company expected Rp 1.01 trillion in
revenue, up 14.6 percent from Rp 881 billion the previous year.
Some Rp 941.73 billion of this is expected from sales of wood and
wood products.
Perum Perhutani, founded in 1972, currently manages some 2.5
million hectares of forests on Java, Bali, West and East Nusa
Tenggara, most of which are teak plantations.
The company, which has teak and pine plantations as its core
business, earns 75 percent of its total revenue from the sale of
teak.
About 71 percent of Perhutani's export earnings came from the
sales of finished teak and other timber, and the remaining 29
percent from nonwood forest products such as gum resin and
turpentine. (gis)