SARAWAK’S timber industry has recorded RM2.1 billion in exports up to the third quarter of 2024, with Japan remaining the main importer at RM1.2 billion.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said Japan’s export had increased 1.5 per cent compared to RM1.18 billion during the same period in 2023.
“Other key markets include India with RM307 million, the Middle East (RM145 million), China (RM110 million), and Taiwan (RM88 million),” he said in his ministerial winding-up speech today).
Awang Tengah, who is also Natural Resources and Urban Development Second Minister, said the state is also developing value-added industries such as wood pellets, which are used as eco-friendly fuel for electricity generation.
He said Sarawak’s wood pellet exports reached RM60 million in the third quarter of 2024, a 69 per cent increase from RM36 million in the same period last year.
“The main markets for these products are Japan and the Netherlands,” he added.
He also said Sarawak through the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (PUSAKA) is planning furniture parks in Demak Laut and Tanjung Manis to position itself as a competitive furniture production hub.
“PUSAKA is also collaborating with research institutions, universities, and the timber industry to produce green products such as biofuel, activated carbon, and engineered wood,” he said.
On bamboo, Awang Tengah said 3,900 hectares of bamboo have been planted with various species by 12 commercial entities and 33 registered communities under PUSAKA.
He said this is part of a target to establish 10,000 hectares of bamboo plantations in Sarawak, adding that the government has also approved the allocation of land for bamboo cultivation by existing licensed planted forest (LPF) holders, depending on soil suitability.
