KUCHING: Sarawak timber trade has achieved boosted logs and timber products exports, totalling RM7,455 million in 2012, the highest since 2010.
According to a press statement released yesterday at Sarawak Timber Association’s (STA) annual general meeting (AGM), the total value of Sarawak’s log and timber export saw an increase by approximately RM371,300 in 2012 from RM7,083.2 million in 2011.
The statement further revealed that plywood timber products showed the largest amount of exports with 52.6 per cent of the overall total logs and timber export, followed by logs (24.15 per cent) and sawntimber (10.53 per cent).
Additionally, Sarawak’s logs and timber products were mainly exported to Japan, which recorded 38.27 per cent of the total export.
This was followed by India and Asia (excluding India, China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan) which imported 15.99 and 10.69 per cent of Sarawak’s logs and timber, respectively.
Overall, the statement showed that logs production totalled to 9,458,563 cubic metres in 2012, a decrease from 9,610,434 cubic metres in 2011.
Meanwhile, with regards to the logging and timber production in Sarawak, STA said significant progress had been made in the standard operating procedures of the harvesting of planted forests in Sarawak.
STA chairman, Pemanca Datuk Wong Kie Yik said, “Throughout the year, STA has worked closely with the state forestry agencies to ensure that pragmatic standard of operating procedures is formulated for the forest plantation industry.
“One of the achievements during the year was the determination of weigh-volume conversions factors of one tonne cubic metre for Acacia mangium and one tonne equals two cubic metres for Paraserianthes falcataria to determine the volume for the purpose of assessing royalty and cess.
“This is an important achievement as log scaling of plantation logs is not economically feasible for the forest plantation industry.”