KUCHING: The timber industry has been—and will continue to be—an important sector for Sarawak in terms of employment and business opportunities, and export revenue, says Datuk Willie Mongin.
The federal Deputy Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister pointed out that the Sarawak Furniture Park would help Sarawak double its revenue from timber export to RM8bil from RM4bil by 2030.
A briefing was organised by the Malaysian Timber Council (MTC) for industry players in Peninsular Malaysia and potential investors at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre on Tuesday (April 26).
“MTC sees its position within the trade and its proximity with the government as a strength and opportunity to further enhance the competitiveness of the Malaysian timber industry.
“Furthermore, MTC plans to implement initiatives to tackle the many challenges faced by industry players, and is committed to achieving the objectives set out in the MTC Roadmap 2019-2023 and the National Agricommodity Policy 2021-2030.
“MTC will continuously undertake various engagement programmes with stakeholders.
“Sarawak’s timber resources, which have a high potential for producing value-added wooden-based products, show that the furniture park is a timely setup for the development of its timber industry,” according to a statement.
The Sarawak Furniture Park will be set up in Kuching and Tanjung Manis, and part of the state government’s efforts to strengthen Sarawak’s downstream timber operations with higher value-added products to develop the state’s furniture industry.
Apart from furniture, other value-added products would be engineered wood products, plywood- and bamboo-based products.
Willie said the parks would facilitate efficient horizontal and vertical integration with sustainably sourced raw materials.
At the briefing, the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) said it had all the machinery in place to make Sarawak the new furniture hub and hoped to collaborate with MTC and industry members to realise this aim.
“Sarawak is gearing to certify 4.5 million hectares of long-term timber license area and 178,000 hectares of forest plantation under the Malaysian Timber Certification Council.
‘’The state government is also looking into human capital and infrastructure development to accelerate the growth of the Furniture Park,” said STIDC. “The Sarawak Furniture Park is expected to generate RM500mil in investment.”
