RI charged of undercutting

RI charged of undercutting

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian plywood exporters have charged
that Indonesian counterparts were unilaterally slashing plywood
prices to undercut them in the international markets.

Exporters with the Malaysian Panel Products Manufacturers
Association (MPPMA) said the Indonesian Wood Panel Association,
or Apkindo, after breaching a regional pact not to undercut
prices, did not even bother to answer its request for talks, the
Business Times financial daily reported yesterday.

Chai Fook Leong, president for the local plywood exporters'
association, charged that Apkindo unilaterally chopped plywood
prices on July 4, after agreeing at the ASEAN Panel Products
Federation meeting in Kuala Lumpur on June 30 not to resort to
such action in the spirit of cooperation and solidarity.

The Apkindo cut was unkindest to Malaysia as prices of plywood
plunged in China and the European Union, two of Kuala Lumpur's
main markets, by 27 percent and 16 percent respectively, Chai
said.

He said Apkindo did not explain why it breached the ASEAN pact
and had ignored all contacts made by the MPPMA and the Philippine
Plywood Association to discuss the issue.