Malaysia, December 30, 2005—Malaysia’s timber exports are expected to reach a record RM21 billion ($5.6B) this year as global demand rises sharply following reconstruction efforts in areas struck by natural disasters.
Calling 2005 a peculiar year, Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) director-general Datuk Mohd Nazuri Hashim Shah said the world saw many natural calamities like hurricanes and earthquakes this year.
“In rebuilding homes and commercial properties, demand for timber logs, plywood, mattress and furniture has gone up,” he said in an interview with Business Times at the board’s premises in Kuala Lumpur.
Early this year, exports of plywood to Thailand and India rose as the nations rebuilt properties destroyed in the December 2004 tsunami.
Since August, the south-eastern states of the US lost properties in the devastating hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
“These few months we got to know from our timber players and furniture manufacturers that their clients from the US are ordering more,” Mohd Nazuri said.
Malaysia is a major exporter of wood-based furniture, panel boards (plywood, fibreboard, chipboard), wooden flooring, mouldings and joinery.
The director-general is optimistic that the timber industry is on track to surpass last year’s highest-ever earnings of RM19.78 billion because from January to October this year, exports had already amounted to RM17.81 billion.
“If you extrapolate that 10-month figure to the full year, we’re on track to set a new record this year,” Mohd Nazuri said.
The timber industry currently contributes about 5 per cent to Malaysia’s economy and offers job opportunities to about 337,000 people, or nearly 3.4 per cent of the country’s workforce.
Asked about the outlook for 2006, Mohd Nazuri said the Finance Ministry has approved an allocation of RM200 million fund to replant forests.
“A special-purpose vehicle will be set up under our agency to disburse the fund to successful applicants to replant high-valued timber species,” he said.
A forest plantation is a dedicated area where 11 timber species are planted and harvested in a well-managed and sustainable environment, usually for commercial purposes.
Out of the 11 timber species, five which have high commercial value are meranti, rubberwood, sentang, acacia and semankok.
MTIB’s data revealed that the current total forest plantation area is about 250,000ha and spread out in Sabah, Sarawak, Johor, Terengganu and Pahang. Of that area, half consists of rubber plantations.
Currently, there are 2.8 million ha available for forest plantation, with Sarawak accounting for the bulk of it, Mohd Nazuri said.
Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006 to 2010), the Government aims to double Malaysia’s forest plantation area to 500,000ha to strengthen its commitment to the world market that its timber will be sourced from a sustainably-managed forest.
