Wood firms face timber shortage

Wood firms face timber shortage

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Director General of the Utilization of
Production Forests at the Ministry of Forestry Waskito
Surjodibroto warned of a possible acute shortage in the raw
materials necessary for the wood processing industry.

"There would be a shortage of raw material of around 19.76
million cubic meters a year if all wood processing companies in
the country operated at their maximum capacities," he said here
on Thursday.

He said the shortage in raw material could materialize because
the government failed to issue a policy restricting the industry
from increasing its processing capacity.

The existing government regulation, issued in 1995, allows the
wood processing industry to increase its capacity by up to 30
percent without obtaining a permit, he said during a seminar on
forestry.

Indonesia's wood processing industry faces a serious shortage
in raw materials because demand has always far exceeded the
ability to provide raw materials in a sustainable way, Waskito
said.

He said the country's wood processing industry needed around
60.78 million cubic meters of raw material per year, while the
available supply was only 41.02 million cubic meters.

The supply shortage is further aggravated by the inability of
many factories to process smaller diameter logs, because they
still use old machines with limited processing capability, he
said. (23/cst)