RI wood exports may fall short

RI wood exports may fall short

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Industry and Trade warned on
Thursday Indonesia might not be able to reach the 10 percent
growth target for its wood products exports this year due to weak
market demand, following the global economic slowdown.

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

Last year, Indonesia exported US$6.7 billion worth of wood
products, or 14 percent of the total $47.8 billion non-oil and
gas exports that year, according to data from the Central Bureau
of Statistics.

The wood products exports in 2000 include $1.99 billion
plywood and veneer products, $1.64 billion furniture and wood
components products, $3 billion pulp and paper products, and
other wood products valued at $942.3 million.

The global economic slowdown, which started with the Asian
economic crisis in 1997, has hit Indonesian major wood export
markets, including the United States, Japan, South Korea and
Europe.

Theoretically, Indonesia still has a good opportunity to boost
its exports, given the fact that today its share in the global
wood market is still small.

Citing the ministry's latest data, he said Indonesian exports
accounted for only 13 percent, or $2.1 billion of the world's
plywood and veneer demand which was worth $15.5 billion in 1998.

The data further indicated that Indonesian furniture exports
accounted for 1 percent of the global furniture demand of $50.1
billion that year.

But, in prefabricated woods exports, the country enjoyed a
whopping 20 percent share of the global market. (03)