Wood exports predicted to rise by 12%
Wood exports predicted to rise by 12%
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Forestry Society expects exports of wood products to grow by 12.3 percent this year to a value of US$7.19 billion.
The society's chairman, Mohamad Hasan, told a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission on Forestry, Agriculture and Transmigration yesterday that the this year would be better than last year because a number of major importing countries were recovering from economic recessions.
Hasan said a number of major importing countries, including China, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, are expected to import more plywood this year.
"China is planning to build 15 million houses within the next five years and Japan will spend a lot of money to rebuild the earthquake-hit town of Kobe.... all indicating that demand for plywood and other wood products will increase," Hasan said.
He said that exports of wood products were expected increase significantly over the next three years. Exported wood products are predicted to earn $8.09 billion next year, $9.42 billion in 1997 and $11.72 billion in 1998.
Exports of wood products, mostly plywood, currently account for 14 percent of Indonesia's overall annual export earnings.
Last year, revenues from plywood exports dropped by eight percent to $4.07 billion, down from $4.59 billion in 1993.
A number of critics have blamed Hasan's rigid leadership of the Association of Indonesian Wood Panel Producers (Apkindo) for last year's drop in plywood exports. The association is authorized to control plywood exports.
Hasan has contended that last year's drop was mainly caused by economic recessions in the United States, Europe and Japan.
He argued that Indonesia was not the only country which had suffered declines in plywood exports, saying that Malaysia had encountered a similar drop last year.
Indonesia, which exports almost 10 million cubic meters of plywood annually, is the largest plywood exporter in the world. Other plywood-exporting countries are Malaysia, Brazil and a number of African countries.
Price drop
Commenting on last year's drop in plywood prices to $457 per cubic meter, from an average of $474 in 1993, Hasan said that the 1993 prices were abnormally high and therefore did not provide a valid reference.
Hasan said that importers had been responsible for the sharp increases in plywood prices in 1993, which rose by $110 over the previous year. "They were afraid of not getting enough supply," he said.
He said he favored a slight but steady increase in plywood prices to a large, sudden increase like the one seen in 1993.
As the volume of plywood exports is projected to remain at an average of 10 million cubic meters for the next three years, the increase in revenues from plywood exports is expected to come from a steady rise of plywood prices.
Hasan defended Apkindo's plywood export monopoly, which has been subjected to strong criticism from many quarters, saying it aimed to ensure high plywood prices.
Hasan said that current plywood prices were very much higher than those paid in 1983, of below $200 per cubic meter, when Apkindo was assigned to coordinate plywood exports. (rid)