KUCHING: Sarawak should focus on the exports of plywood as one of its sources of income.
Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Haji Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, gave the advice during the Seminar on Wood Utilization in Construction Structure 2018 at Riverside Majestic Hotel here yesterday.
“We have been exporting plywood to Japan, Korea and other countries. One of the Japanese companies has used our plywood and added value to it with new technology and then produced it to be used for flooring,” he said.
The Chairman of Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) said some components of the plywood were used in airplanes and “had also reached the moon.”
“Plywood products should be our main focus now,” he stressed, adding that exports of timber and timber products were the fourth largest contributor to the state’s revenue after petroleum, oil and gas, and oil palm.
“We are not in the 70’s era anymore that we sorely need to depend on exporting logs. That is history. Now we have to look into other potential timber products to be exported,” said Awang Tengah who is also the Second Minister of Urban Development and Natural Resources and Minister of Industrial and Entrepreneur Development.
Since there was already a high demand for plywood from other countries, plywood products should be developed further by professionals such as architects, civil and structure engineers, contractors, builders, including interior designers, added the Deputy Chief Minister.
Awang Tengah said Sarawak’s exports of timber and timber products had declined in value with RM1.3 million recorded in the first quarter of this year
“The value declined by 32 percent compared to RM1.7 billion during the corresponding period last year. This was attributed to the reduction in the export value of logs (49 percent), plywood (16 percent), sawn timber (19 percent), veneer (36 percent), particleboard (4 percent), and fibreboard (7 percent),” he said.
He explained that the government had reduced its exports of logs and that soon, it would enforce a total ban on exporting logs.
Awang Tengah also said that since 2015, STIDC had implemented its Timber Industry Transformation Plan to ensure a sustainable timber industry.
“The plan will gradually change the current structure of the timber industry from heavily dependent on the exports of primary and secondary timber products to high value timber products by 2030,” he said, adding that the state’s vision was to achieve its targeted export earnings of RM10 billion by 2030.
The seminar was co-organised by STIDC, Institute of Infrastructure Engineering and Sustainable Management, Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Malaysia Sarawak Architect Association, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Sarawak Forestry Corporation.
Held also in conjunction with STIDC’s 45th Anniversary, it aimed to provide a platform for policy makers, scientists, industry players and stakeholders to share information and expertise on wood utilization in construction structure and wood grade requirement for construction usage.
Also present at the opening ceremony were Urban Planning, Land Administration and Environment Assistant Minister, Datu Len Talif Salleh and STIDC Acting General Manager, Tuan Haji Hashim Haji Bojet.
