• Timber’s slight decline in 2018

Last month, Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok revealed that the export value of Malaysia’s timber products is expected to decline slightly this year from the RM23.21 billion chalked up in 2017, against the backdrop of a weak global economy, according to a Bernama article.

Kok had said that the trade dispute between the US and China, which has caused global trade imbalances and volatility, had also dampened demand for commodities, including timber.

“When we see our commodity prices drop, and a slowdown in the economy, (it is) not just for Malaysia, but the whole world. We shouldn’t be too surprised with the decline.”

Bernama also reported that from January to August this year, the total export of timber and timber products declined 5.7 per cent to RM14.6 billion compared with the same period of 2017 due to weather factors.

In 2017, the export value amounted to RM23.21 billion. Among the major contributor to the export earnings were wooden furniture (RM4.95 billion).

Meanwhile, DOSM’s external trade statistics for October 2018 revealed that timber and timber-based products were among the main products which contributed to the increase in Malaysia’s overall exports on a y-o-y basis.

Timber and timber- based products, contributed 2.2 per cent to total exports, recorded an increase of RM133.9 million or 6.6 per cent y-o-y to RM2.2 billion in October 2018.

In Sarawak, Second Minister of Urban Development and Natural Resources Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan disclosed that for January until August 2018, the timber sector registered export earnings of RM3.58 billion. This was a decrease of 14 per cent compared to RM4.17 billion in the corresponding period of 2017.

“The decline was mainly due to the reduction in the supply of raw materials and the inability of the current mills to process the type of raw materials that are currently available in the market as well as slower demand from major market,” he said in his ministerial winding up speech at the State Legislative Assembly.

He also said the production of logs from natural forest has decreased by 18 per cent from 3.8 million cubic meters in the first eight months of 2017 to 3.1 million cubic meters in the same period of 2018.

Awang Tengah went on to note that in order to sustain the timber industry, the local manufacturers need to undertake the retooling process in line with the changes on the type of raw materials available in the future.

To supplement the supply of raw materials, he said the government will ensure successful implementation of the industrial forest in the state.

“The annual production of logs from industrial forest is expected to increase to at least two million cubic meters to meet the shortfall of logs from natural forest.”