MALAYSIAN TIMBER INDUSTRY ABLE TO MEET EUROPEAN STANDARDS

By Caroline Jackson

KUCHING (Malaysia), July 17 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian timber industry is
quick to adapt to European standards in terms of certification of its tropical
timber products compared to other markets in the face of negative perception and
deforestation issues, said United Kingdom Timber Trade Federation's head of
sustainability Rachael Butler.

She said the industry which practised sustainable production of timber and
legality standards was better developed than those in other tropical countries,
which enabled Malaysia to distinguish itself over and above the Indonesian,
Brazilian and African markets.

"Malaysia is one of the traditional markets for the UK but because the
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are under pressure to have certified or
verified products it does mean that people sometimes look for alternatives to
Malaysian timber," said Butler, who was part of the visiting delegation of
European timber trade representatives on a familiarisation trip to the East
Malaysian state of Sarawak.

The trip was organised by the Sarawak Timber Development Corporation jointly
with the Malaysian Timber Council (MTC).

"There is still a trend though for tropical timber as obviously people still
like it," Butler said, adding that the UK's import of plywood from China, which
has risen to 300 to 400 percent in the last five years, had undercut Malaysian
plywood.

She said the problem was the NGOs around the retailers and it was their
perception that they believe the NGOs and would not believe the trade industry
because it had vested interests.

As such, Butler said, the trip was helpful for getting foreign journalists
to write and people to understand the real situation besides networking with the
other organisations in facing the market issues.

"Timber is a commodity product which means people tend to go for price
rather than quality," she said, adding that it would be easy for her to get back
to relay the messages and get information to the federation's members who wanted
to come and needed back-up to sell Malaysian timber following her visit here.

Michele Eleoli, who represented the Italian Timber Federation, said he would
recommend Italian companies to invest here, including setting up factories,
given the difficulty in finding good workers back home.

Eleoli was confident that Italy, which imposed wood certification on
importers, would buy Malaysian timber in time to come as the preference at
present was for those sourced from Indonesia due to its cheaper cost.

At present, Malaysia timber trade accounted for between four and six percent
of his country's total imports of tropical hardwood, he said.

In the Netherlands, Dutch traders were expected to give an extra push to
ensure that all the wood used should come from sustainable forest and legal
sources, which would put Malaysian timber in an advantageous position, said Bert
Kattenbroek of the Dutch Association of Joinery Campanies.

With 250 member companies that consume roughly 120,000 cubic metres of
tropical hardwood a year in diffrent areas, he said about 40 to 50 percent came
from Malaysia, which has a certification scheme compared to competitors like
Indonesia.

In promoting the Malaysian timber industry in Europe, MTC London director
Sheam Satkuru said that MTC aimed to foster a better understanding of its
complexity, which was far from destroying the forest.

"It is an important source of revenue and contributes almost 4.5 percent of
our gross domestic product (GDP), so it is not a factor that can be swept under
the carpet," she said, adding that it also provided employment besides
value-adding in the processing chain to retain value within country while
selling the products abroad.
-- BERNAMA