KUCHING: After a lapse of five years, Japan importers have now managed to purchase tropical logs from Sabah.
“South Sea (tropical) logs have been exported from Sabah, Malaysia to Japan for the first time in five years,” according to the Japan Lumber Reports (JLR).
Sabah imposed a total ban on logs export in 2018 after Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal took over as Chief Minister. His move was to ensure there is sufficient timber as raw materials for the downstream processing industry, including furniture making.
However, the ban was reviewed and lifted from Jan 3, 2022 when Sabah, under a new government, decided to implement a limited logs export programme, which allows eligible parties to export logs on a case-to-case basis subject to the applicant’s eligibility.
According to the JLR, its bi-monthly publication of which is reproduced in the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) tropical timber market report (April 16-30, 2023), Sabah had been exporting logs to China after the ban was lifted a year ago.
“Demand in Japan remains strong at shipbuilding companies and steelmakers and there are a lot of enquiries from South Sea lumber companies in western Japan. Demand seems good so far but it depends on the economy because prices are up globally.
“The price movement of South Sea lumber and Chinese lumber in overseas in general and Japan, in particular, are having a temporary lull,” it added.
On another note, the JLR said Vietnam-based Woodsland Joint Stock Company, which obtained the certification of Japanese Agricultural Standards (JAS) on laminated veneer lumber (LVL) fixture materials in February 2023, will supply acacia building materials to Japan.
The company owns about 30,000 hectares of an afforestation area, out of which 6,000 hectares has the FM (Forest Management) of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) for acacia.
The report said Woodsland use acacia and styrax to produce LVL, and the production is between 2,000 and 3,000 cubic metres (cu m) a month.
“The company got the JAS certification for its first plant. The first plant has the ability of producing over 2.7 metres of LVL for 2,000 cu m and under 2.7 metres of LVL for 3,000 cu m. Another company used to produce acacia building materials for Australia but the company started to look for a new market due to intensification of competition in Australia.
“This certificated acacia will be supplied to Japan. However, it would take time to expand the use of acacia in Japan because many Japanese prefer white coloured LVL without burls such as styrax. Therefore, the company will expand styrax LVL in Japan at first, then the company will see how the styrax LVL move in Japan and propose acacia LVL.”
Meanwhile, the ITTO report said there was a massive correction in the value of Japan’s wooden bedroom furniture and wooden furniture parts’ imports in February 2023.
The value of Japan’s wooden office furniture (HS940330) imports in February 2023 was down 11 per cent to 184 million yen (RM6.1 million) from February 2022 and declined by 43 per cent from January 2023 (based on data from Japan Finance Ministry). The biggest losers were shippers in China, which saw their shares of import dropped from the over 90 per cent in January to 77 per cent in February. In February, the other major suppliers were Indonesia and Poland, while Malaysia was among the small suppliers.
Malaysia was also one of the suppliers of wooden kitchen furniture (HS940340) to Japan, which paid 1.46 billion yen (RM48.4 million) to import the products in February 2023. The import value of wooden kitchen furniture was down six per cent year-on-year and there was a seven per cent decline from January 2023.
“As was the case in January, over 70% of the total value of wooden kitchen furniture imported by Japan in February this year was from just two sources — the Philippines (43%) and Vietnam (23%). Shipments of HS940340 from Vietnam in February were over 20% below that in January. On the other hand, there was an increase in the value of shipments from Italy, Thailand and Germany.”
On wooden bedroom furniture (HS940350), the ITTO report said Japan’s import value in February recorded a major downward correction after the surge in the previous month of January. The report suggested that the decline was likely due to the impact on trade of the New Year celebrations in both China and Vietnam.
The value of arrivals of HS940350 from China in February was down 11 per cent from a year ago while compared to January 2023, there was a decline of 25 per cent. Shipments from China and Vietnam were down 40 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.
Malaysia, the fourth largest supplier of wooden bedroom furniture to Japan, recorded export value of about 271 million yen (RM8.99 million) to that country in February.
On Japan’s wooden furniture parts (HS940391) imports, the Finance Ministry’s data showed that the top suppliers in February 2023 were China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, and the value of shipments from them, with the exception of Indonesia, was down from January. Japan imported 186.1 million yen (RM6.17 million) of the furniture parts from Malaysia in February.
Compared to a year ago, Japan’s total import value in February 2023 which amounted to 1.55 billion yen (RM51.3 million) fell 12 per cent but it was a decline of more than 40 per cent against January 2023.
