MTIB to streamline operations to further develop timber industry

SEOUL: The Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) is looking at streamlining its operations by the end of May to further develop the local timber industry.

MTIB chairman Wilfred Madius Tangau said that for so long, the board’s involvement in international trade had not been significant.

“This is one of the areas which we are going to relook and streamline our organisation according to this direction,” he told Bernama after a dinner at the official residence of Malaysian Ambassador to South Korea Datuk Ramlan Ibrahim here.

He said with the new streamlined MTIB, the board could leverage on the government’s strength and mobilise the existing officers globally to reach potential markets and promote further growth in the existing ones.

“If you talk to certain people, the timber industry may be a sunset industry.

“But for us in the industry, it is actually in a revitalising stage with new products like biocomposites and glue laminated timber being produced via innovation and new technology,” he said.

Under the National Timber Industry Policy (NATIP), the government has set a target for the timber industry to have 60 per cent of products to be derived from value added activities by 2020.

“The private sector-led target is very clear and as far as Malaysia is concerned, 70 per cent of timber products from Peninsular Malaysia are value added ones while in Sabah, value added products stood at 13 per cent and Sarawak consists of only three per cent value added products,” Wilfred said.

He said that there were still a lot of things to do for Sabah and Sarawak to catch up on the value adding supply chain, and a rebrand of the local timber industry was a must.

“There are 22 initiatives outlined under NATIP, and we are already in the process of working with the Performance Management and Delivery Unit to come up with some key entry point projects,” he said. — Bernama