KUCHING: Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) is focusing on planted forests for new materials and opportunities for the industry to remain sustainable.
Its general manager, Datuk Hashim Bojet said Sarawak has achieved half million hectares of planted forest areas out of its targeted one million hectares.
Hashim was represented by STIDC assistant general manager (Licensing, Industrial Planning and Investment) Nicholas Andrew Lissem, who presented a paper titled ‘STIDC Driving Sustainability for Timber Industry’ during the International Conference on Engineered Wood held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here, yesterday.
He said the corporation was also leveraging on technology, digitalisation and Research and Development (R&D).
“We are putting a lot of effort into digitalising our process, such as permit and licenses.
“We are also looking at how the industry can leverage on technology in production and moving away from labor intensive to more mechanised way of doing things,” he said.
In terms of R&D, he said STIDC was working very closely with the industry and also educational institutions such as Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) under the STIDC Chair, in which they are collaborating on key specific areas such as planted forest and also developing material for plantation.
Touching on engineered wood products which STIDC is promoting, he said the Cumulative Average Growth Rate (CAGR) for engineered wood by application is expected to grow about six per cent by 2027.
“In terms of region, we are fortunate to be in the Asia Pacific, which makes up about two-thirds of the CAGR market.
“Asia Pacific CAGR market by region is better than North America with 6 per cent compared to 5 per cent (North America),” he added.
