Plywood exports reach $2.24b

Plywood exports reach $2.24b

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's plywood exports increased by 2.53
percent to US$2.24 billion during the first semester of this year
from the same period of last year, the Association of Indonesian
Wood Panel Producers (Apkindo) says.

"The export development indicates that the country's plywood
exports are unlikely to decline this year, as often rumored these
days," Tjipto Wignjoprajitno, Apkindo's secretary general, told
reporters at his office yesterday.

"I'm confident our plywood exports will reach, at least, last
year's level despite rising competition from Malaysia," he said.

Indonesia, one of the world's leading plywood producers,
exported wood products worth nearly US$5.5 billion -- including
plywood worth $4.22 billion -- last year, which accounted for
almost 15 percent of the country's total exports of $36.82
billion.

The Indonesian business circle for the last three months has
been swept by rumors suggesting that the country's plywood
exports have been declining steadily since April, supposedly due
to rising competition from Malaysia and the way the domestic
plywood market is being controlled by Apkindo.

Under Indonesian regulations, all international transactions
in the plywood industry must be conducted through Apkindo, which
groups about 115 plywood firms, and its appointed distributors.

Muhamad (Bob) Hasan, Apkindo's chairman, conceded last month
that there has been some decline in volume and prices of
Indonesia's plywood exports due to the drop in purchases from
South Korea and China.

Although he declined to cite exact figures, Hasan insisted
then that the decline was a temporary trend.

Despite Hasan's assurances, Apkindo's figures obtained by The
Jakarta Post yesterday reflect that the value of plywood exports
from April to June were on a downward trend. Figures for July
through September, rumored to be very low, were not available.

The data show that plywood exports declined from $433 million
in March to $366 million in April, to $348 million in May and to
$317 million in June.

Television

On the same occasion yesterday, Tjipto, concurrently the
secretary general of Indonesian Forestry Society (MPI), said that
he had not received any reports that MPI's television commercials
had been suspended by the Netherlands' National Commission of
Advertisement, as claimed Thursday by the Network for Forest
Conservation in Indonesia (Skephi).

"We have not heard about the report but MPI is in the middle
of a process to improve the advertisements," he said while
declining to specify the process.

The MPI ads, which claim that Indonesia has replanted 11
billion trees under its sustainable forest management program,
have been suspended by Britain and Japan following protests from
local environmental organizations, saying that MPI has
exaggerated their claims.

Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said Wednesday
that MPI should "revise its advertisements because we did not
replant as many trees as the commercials claim."

Djamaludin, however, did not disclose the exact figures of how
many trees Indonesia has replanted in its reforestation efforts.

Tjipto insisted that the ads convey "correct information"
because they are founded on "data obtained by the Ministry of
Forestry."

MPI only stated how many trees were replanted and not the
final outcome, Tjipto said.

Skephi, which claims that it based its conclusions on official
figures, insisted that only 1.3 billion trees were replanted on
730,600 hectares as of March 1994, as compared to the target of
1.8 billion hectares.

Indro Tjahjono, a Skephi executive, said that even if all of
the targeted 1.8 billion hectares were replanted, there would be
only 3 billion trees.

"Even if MPI claims that its members planted 11 billion seeds
instead of trees, it will not be possible. The government only
allocates a limited area of land which can accommodate only 900
million seeds," Indro said. (hdj)