Timber companies told to sell logs to locals

Timber companies told to sell logs to locals

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaluddin Suryohadikusumo
has required forest concessionaires to sell, at least five
percent of their log and sawn timber production to local people,
an official said yesterday.

The head of the East Kalimantan office of the Ministry of
Forestry, Heru Basuki Sukiran, quoted the Minister of Forestry's
Decree No. 12/kpts-11/1996 dated Jan. 9, 1996, which obliges
forest concession holders to sell a portion of their production
to local people.

"Forest concession holders may cooperate with local sawmills
to sell their products on the local market," Heru was quoted by
Antara as saying in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.

Heru said concession holders who did not abide by the decree
could have their concession permits revoked by the minister.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the East Kalimantan chapter of the
Indonesia Forestry Society, B.S. Suba, sais he supported the
ruling but he argued that local sawmills might not be able to
afford to buy logs from concession holders at market prices of
around US$100 per cubic meter. (04)