Plywood exports expected to decline by 12 percent

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's plywood exports are expected to decline by about 12 percent this year to US$2.2 billion from $2.5 billion last year, according to the Association of Indonesian Plywood Producers (Apkindo).

Apkindo's chairman Abbas Adhar said on Tuesday that the fall in plywood exports would be caused by the fall in prices rather than due to a decline in orders.

"In terms of volume, the country's plywood exports remain stable," he said indicating that the economic slowdown in the United States and Japan, the main buyers of Indonesian plywood, had yet to affect their exports.

Indonesia exported 7 million cubic meters of plywood worth $2.5 billion in 2000, down from 7.7 million cubic meters worth $2.7 billion in the previous year.

Last week, the Ministry of Industry and Trade warned that the country might not be able to reach the 10 percent growth target for its wood products exports this year due to weak market demand.

"The best we can do amid the sluggish market is to reach last year's export results," Gatot Ibnusantosa, director general for chemicals, agriculture, and forestry product industries at the ministry, said.

Abbas said the association has agreed to engage in a joint marketing effort to promote plywood exports in a bid to cope with the possible impact of the global economic slowdown,

Japan recently agreed to import 2 million cubic meters of plywood from Indonesia and 1.5 million cubic meters from Malaysia, thanks to joint-marketing efforts made by the two countries' plywood producers.

Japan takes the lion's share of Indonesian plywood exports followed by the United States, Europe and the Middle East, each importing about one million cubic meters," he added. (03)