Plywood group wants ban on log exports

Plywood group wants ban on log exports

JAKARTA (JP): The government should impose a ban on the export
of logs because unrestricted shipments in the last three years
have starved local plywood manufacturers of their prime raw
material, Bisnis Indonesia daily reported on Monday.

Abbas Adhar, chairman of the Association of Indonesian
Plywood producers (Apkindo), said the government's decision to
slash the export tax on logs, from 200 percent to 10 percent
since 1998, has led to a massive outflow of logs from the
country.

Plywood producers in China and Malaysia have been using
Indonesian timber to increase their own exports in the last three
years at a time when Indonesia's own plywood exports plunged,
Abbas was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

The government was forced to slash export tariffs beginning on
Feb.1 1998 as part of its commitment to reform the economy in
return for a massive bailout program from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF).

In spite of lower export tariffs, some Indonesian logs are
still being smuggled out to reach foreign producers, Abbas said.

Without government intervention over log exports and
smuggling, Indonesia's plywood exports would continue to decline
in coming years, he said. (03)