KUCHING: Sarawak’s timber industry performance declined by 12 percent, based on the export value of timber products until the third quarter of this year compared with the same period last year.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan revealed that the total export value of timber and timber products from Sarawak from January to September this year amounted to RM3.477 billion.
“Last year, the total export value of timber products was RM3.955 billion for the first three quarters of the year,” he said during a press conference after officiating at the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation’s (STIDC) Integrity Day 2019 celebration at Wisma Sumber Alam here, yesterday.
The Minister of International Trade and Industry, Industrial Terminal and Entrepreneur Development noted that plywood remained as the main timber product exported by Sarawak.
The export value of plywood from January to September this year totalled RM1.759 billion compared to RM2.247 billion from January to September last year, a decrease of 21 percent.
The main timber products exported were plywood which accounted for RM1.759 billion (51 percent), logs RM547 million (16 percent), sawn timber RM451 million (13 percent), fibreboard RM264 million (7 percent), and veneer RM72 million (2 percent).
Japan remains as the main market for Sarawak’s timber products. The export value to Japan from January to September this year amounted to RM1.662 billion. Other major markets for Sarawak’s timber products were India RM394 million, the Middle East (RM327 million), Taiwan (RM239 million) and Korea (RM193 million).
Awang Tengah who is also STIDC board of management chairman attributed the overall decrease in market performance to the issues and decline faced by the global economy, as well as its general uncertainty.
He also highlighted that timber production from the natural forests has decreased, while there was an increase in timber production from planted forests.
