M’sia exports over one mln cubic meters of tropical timber in 2015

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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia exported more than one million cubic meters of certified tropical timber to 49 destinations all over Asia Pacific, Middle East, Europe, South Africa, United States and Canada in 2015.

Of the total, an estimated 868,332 cubic meters or 82.93 per cent were  exported to Europe with five per cent of the total volume exported to Germany.

The Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) recently mounted a working visit to Germany, among others, to promote the offtake of quality, certified tropical timber from Malaysia.

The six-day working visit, led by MTCC chief executive officer Yong Teng Koon, enabled Malaysia and Germany to dialogue about key milestones of sustainable forest management practices and forest certification to promote the uptake of programme for the endorsement of forest certification (PEFC) certified timber from Malaysia.

“Currently, only 10 per cent of the world’s forests have been certified, of which 1.0 per cent comprised tropical forests.

“This shows that concerted efforts are needed to encourage and promote sustainable forest management of the world forests, in particular tropical forest.

“In this regard, the acceptance of PEFC certified timber from Malaysia in the public procurement policies by the various states in Germany will definitely be a significant step in the right direction,” said Yong.

The Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme has been accepted under the national timber procurement policies of Germany, he added. — Bernama