Timber baron Bob Hasan denies plywood boycott

Timber baron Bob Hasan denies plywood boycott

JAKARTA (JP): Timber baron Mohammad (Bob) Hasan yesterday
denied that South Korean and Japanese importers had boycotted
Indonesian plywood and he blamed brokers for propagating
misleading information.

"It was reported that we have a trade war with Sarawak. That's
not true. You see that we're together here," Hasan said while
introducing 15 visiting delegates of the Sarawak Timber
Association.

The delegates met with executives of the Association of
Indonesian Wood Panel Producers (Apkindo), which Hasan chairs,
prior to the conference.

Local media reported earlier this month that plywood importers
in South Korea and Japan had agreed to boycott Indonesian plywood
following the founding of two Apkindo-owned companies in those
countries to become their main distributors.

Unconfirmed sources said that Japanese and Korean importers,
including the Korea Imported Plywood Association (KIPA),
disagreed over the establishment of those two companies, which
might significantly threaten their business interests.

Hasan, however, said that Apkindo established the two trading
companies a long time ago.

Hasan said the declining sales of Indonesian plywood in Japan
and South Korea were caused by the recent recessions in the two
countries.

"Indeed, the governments should control inflation in their
respective countries which could affect their economies. But
that's still normal," he added.

Yasumitsu Mazaki, the Jakarta liaison official of Nippindo Co.
Ltd., a Tokyo-based plywood importer, also denied the boycott
rumor.

Mazaki quoted the Japanese Ministry of Finance as saying that
the total plywood imports into Japan over the first semester of
1994 increased by 13.9 percent over the same period of 1993.
Displaying a clipping from the Nikkan Mokuzai Shimbun newspaper,
he added that plywood imports from Indonesia into Japan increased
by 13.7 percent.

The newspaper reported that Indonesia supplied 1.81 million
cubic meters out of Japan's total plywood imports of 2.15 million
cubic meters during the first semester. Malaysia, Canada and the
United States, supplied the rest of the imports.

South Korea

In a related development, Jerry White, the manager of Indo Kor
Panels, an Indonesian-Korean joint venture, said yesterday that
certain brokers had put forth the rumor to disrupt the plywood
market.

White said that in August 1993, the Seoul government
introduced policies to control inflation which slowed down the
economy.

"The policy led to an immediate decrease in spending.
Developers stopped constructing apartments and the demand for
plywood was affected," he said, adding that this condition,
however, has been changing slowly but surely.

"Some people perceived the lower demand as a boycott. And
certain brokers provided misleading information," he said.

Referring to the report of some local media, Hasan, Mazaki and
White called on journalists to be more professional in their news
gathering and writing.

Hasan said that misleading information and unbalanced
reporting can impede business.

Meanwhile, Lau Hui Kang, the chief of the Sarawak Timber
Association delegation, said that the delegation's members had
come to Indonesia to visit a number of forest concessions in
Kalimantan.

Lau said the executives of timber firms in Sarawak hope to
learn from Indonesia's reforestation programs. (09)