QUALITY PRODUCT: Taib (seated) getting a feel of a piece of furniture at a booth. Also seen are Jabu (second right) and Awang Tengah (left). — Photo by Chimon Upon
State to meet future demand of timber industry through planted forest
KUCHING: Planted forest, which is fast approaching 20 per cent of the permanent timber forest area, should be able to meet the demands of the state’s timber industry, said Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.
The Chief Minister believed timber supply from the planted forest could match those produced from 80 per cent of traditional timber forest.
“The species we choose are fast-growing species, which can grow five times faster than those in traditional timber forest,” he said when opening the Sarawak Grand Timber Expo and Conference 2013 and Sarawak Small and Medium Enterprises’ (SMEs) Expo 2013 at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here yesterday.
Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) and Ministry of Industrial Development are jointly organising the four-day expo in conjunction with STIDC’s 40th anniversary and the state’s celebration of the SMEs Week.
Taib, however, urged industry players to conduct studies on other species to help boost the government’s initiative in forest plantation.
In addition to Acacia, which is one of those fast-growing species being planted throughout the state, he said there was a need to unearth more species with high quantity capabilities.
“Now that we have planted forest, we ought to look into the opportunity or the potential of planted forest.”
Taib lauded the private sector for its success in pushing the timber industry’s earnings to RM7 billion, with plywood as the major contribution.
Despite the steady performance, he felt Sarawak had to tap into the timber furniture market.
“Sarawak is no big timber furniture producer, and we find it hard to compete in the world market since Peninsular Malaysia has been producing and exporting timber furniture.
“As such, we need to encourage greater participation from SMEs so that they could conduct a study on what the world market needs and produce small items in order to diversify the state’s timber industry.”
Among those present were Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang and Second Minister of Resource Planning and Environment Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan.