KUCHING: Sarawak managed to earn a total of RM3.95 billion in its timber products export in 2022.
In disclosing this, Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan pointed out that the timber industry has emerged as one of the largest producers and exporters of tropical plywood in this region.
“Despite the volume of the export being not as much as the year before, we still managed to get high export value due to the price hike.
“With that, timber export has become one of the major contributors to the state’s socio-economic development after natural gas, petroleum and oil palm,” he said.
He said this during his speech at the Sarawak Timber Industry Development (STIDC) 50th Golden Jubilee Celebration at Wisma Sumber Alam here today (Jan 27).
Adding on, he stated as the industry has been identified as one of the important economic sectors to transform Sarawak into a developed state by 2030, the sector is targeted to generate an annual export earning of about RM8 billion by 2030.
“To achieve this, the timber industry must adapt to changes and be transformed from a primary based industry into high value-added processing,” he said.
As such, Awang Tengah said that the technology used needs to be upgraded, where appropriate Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) should be applied.
“That is why, the industry must be efficient in processing plantation materials (timber and bamboo) to produce innovative products which are competitive in the global market,” he said.
