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)