Plywood may lose export market share

Plywood may lose export market share

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said yesterday that exports of forest products would, in the future, rely more on commodities made from small-diameter, fast- growing tree species and less on plywood.

The exports of plywood, which is made from large-diameter trees, will likely decline and be replaced with particle boards, medium density fiberboards and pulp and paper, which are made from small-diameter trees or from the waste of wood-based industries.

"The configuration of forest-product exports and wood-based industries will change together with the change in the configuration of our forests," he said after opening the 1996 Furni Fair exhibition at the Jakarta Fairgrounds yesterday.

More forest products, he said, will be made from wood taken from industrial timber estates and not from natural forests.

Timber estates are usually planted with fast-growing species which can be harvested after eight years, while tropical forests are made up of large-diameter trees, which can only be harvested after 35 years.

"Our natural forests have been declining... To maintain our exports we have to increase the productivity of our timber estates," he said. "This can all be solved with more sophisticated technology."

Indonesia's plywood exports have experienced serious declines in the past few years.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, plywood exports dropped by 11.95 percent last year to US$3.7 billion from $4.2 billion in 1993. In the first seven months of this year, plywood exports fell again by 14.15 percent to $1.98 billion from $2.3 billion in the same period of last year.

Meanwhile, during the January-July period of this year, the combined exports of wood products -- which include plywood, furniture, rattan and pulp and paper -- reached $3.84 billion, slightly down from $3.85 billion during the corresponding period of last year.

Furniture

Timber tycoon Mohammad (Bob) Hassan, who attended yesterday's ceremony, said that wood-based furniture industries would play a greater role in the future, particularly because it is a labor- intensive business.

Djamaludin yesterday also reminded furniture businesses to use legal wood for their production to anticipate ecolabeling requirements, which will come into effect in the year 2000.

"In ecolabeling, the production process of a product is assessed, from which it can be determined if a product can be considered environmentally friendly," he said.

According to the Sucofindo survey agency, exports of wood products and wooden components, which include furniture, reached US$222.9 million in the first six months of this year.

Last year's exports of such products reached $765 million, almost seven times more than the level of $120.3 million in 1988. (pwn)