MTIB News Extracts (Vol.10/03/15)

Transcription

1 This weekly information service provided by MTIB represents one of our efforts to provide the timber industry regularly updated business information on forestry and timber and the trading environment. This enables quick reading of trends, developments and business opportunities to be identified. Since its launching, the service is well received and I thank you for your continued support especially your comments and suggestions. We will continue to upgrade the quality of the news items for the interest and benefit of the industry and hope your association s members will continue to benefit from it. Please communicate with us regularly so that we can improve the information flow based on your feedback. We look forward to hear from you. Thank you. Dr. Jalaluddin Harun Director General Malaysian Timber Industry Board Perkhidmatan maklumat mingguan yang disediakan oleh MTIB ini, merupakan salah satu dari usaha kami untuk menyediakan maklumat perniagaan terkini mengenai perhutanan, industri dan perdagangan perkayuan serta suasana perdagangan. Ini bertujuan membantu membawa perhatian terhadap kemajuan dan perkembangan peluang pasaran. Perkhidmatan ini telah disambut baik sejak dilancarkan, dan saya mengucapkan terima kasih ke atas sokongan yang berterusan daripada pihak industri terutamanya ulasan dan cadangan yang telah dimajukan kepada pihak MTIB. Kami akan terus meningkatkan kualiti maklumat untuk memenuhi keperluan industri dan berharap pihak industri akan terus dapat manfaat darinya. Sila berhubung dengan kami agar kami boleh senantiasa meningkatkan pengaliran maklumat berdasarkan maklumbalas anda. Terima kasih. Dr. Jalaluddin Harun Ketua Pengarah Lembaga Perindustrian Kayu Malaysia Page 1 of 6

2 Indonesia: Request To Ease Procedures To Secure Permits A request has been made by a wood-based group asking the Indonesian government to ease the process that requires small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to secure permits related to self-declarations. The self-declaration is an assurance of the legality of timber. For SMEs that are getting timber from nonstate forest, they must arrange for several licenses, like timber use permits and public disturbance permits before the issuance of the declarations. In early 2015, the self-declarations have been implemented by the authority. The wood-based group hopes that the requirements will be eased by the government. According to the Indonesian Sawmill and Wood Working Association, at present, some 90% of the SMEs in the country do not own the permits. Jakarta Post, 04 Mar 2015 Malaysia: Sarawak State Plans Stronger Penalties Against Illegal Loggers In Malaysia, the Sarawak state government has planned to impose stronger penalties against illegal loggers. Currently, illegal loggers face no prison term and the maximum penalty is only MYR 200 (EUR /USD 55.07) for each tonne of timber confiscated by authorities. The state's forestry ordinance revision will be approved during the State Legislative Assembly sitting in April The Edge Financial Daily, 03 Mar 2015 Philippines: Imported Newsprint May Face Definitive Duty The Tariff Commission of the Philippines has suggested a 9.4% average definitive duty to be applied to imported newsprint in a bid to protect the local industry. The recommendation has been submitted to the Department of Trade and Industry and is currently awaiting approval. The suggestion translates to a PHP 2,470 (EUR /USD 55.93) specific duty per metric ton that will affect newsprint imported from the UK, Canada, the US, South Korea and Japan. Manila Bulletin, 03 Mar 2015 Page 2 of 6

3 Thailand: Inflation Declines MTIB News Extracts (Vol.10/03/15) According to the Commerce Ministry of Thailand, inflation declined by 0.52% yearon-year in February When compared to January 2015, inflation for February 2015 increased by 0.12%. The government now expects inflation for the entire 2015 to reach around 0.6% to 1.3%. Bangkok Post, 03 Mar 2015 Brazil: Pulp Production Up According to Brazil's pulp and paper industry association, pulp production increased 12.3% in January 2015, in comparison with January 2014, at 1.49 million tonnes. Domestic sales in the period were down 1.4% in the same comparison, at 145,000 tonnes, whilst pulp exports dropped 4.1%, at 919,000 tonnes. Valor Economico, 04 Mar 2015 Finland: Imports And Exports In Forest Industry According to preliminary data by the Natural Resources Institute Finland, a total of million cubic metres of wood was imported to Finland in 2014, down 10% from Birch pulpwood accounted for 48% of imports. Of the total, pulpwood or wood chips accounted for 9.12 million cubic metres. Imports of roundwood totalled only 0.61 million cubic metres. Most of the wood came from Russia. The next largest import countries were Estonia and Latvia. Wood exports from Finland totalled 1.44 million cubic metres. The value of exports of forest industry products totalled EUR billion. The biggest export product groups were paper, paperboard, and pulp. Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) Press Release, 06 Mar 2015 France: Temporary Rise In Timber Demand French trading firms reportedly working towards replenishing their stocks. Demand for construction-timber products like bois d'ossature, chevron and madriers among others rose for a temporary period in January 2015 after experiencing weak performance in November 2014 and December Meanwhile, only a few sawmills saw growth in January 2015 as compared to Page 3 of 6

4 January 2014 in France, while sawmills have reported a sharp fall in the delivery volumes and receipts of orders in February Euwid Wood Products and Panels, 02 Mar 2015 Germany: Conifer Wood Production According to Oerrel, a North German forest organisation, the total amount of wood produced from conifer trees increased by 14% to over 2,000 solid cubic metres in the Northern German States of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommen in Over 990 solid cubic metres of Douglas Fir trees were sold, of which the price grew slightly by 1% despite almost twice as much as Douglas Fir wood available than in Around 550 solid cubic metres of Larch tree wood was produced, with the price increasing by 14%. There was a 10% growth in pine wood prices with over 510 solid cubic metres having been produced. Holz-Zentralblatt, 02 Mar 2015 Germany: Prices Of Oak And Spruce Grow In South-East Bavaria, Germany, the price of oak increased by 13% to EUR 424 (USD ) per cubic metre in early 2015 over the same period a year earlier, according to data from a sectoral meeting in Waging am See, Germany on 13 February The price of spruce rose by 25% to EUR 207 per cubic metre. The price of sycamore maple and of larch dropped by 8% to EUR 267 per cubic metre and by 3% to EUR 252 per cubic metre, respectively. Holz-Zentralblatt, 20 Feb 2015 Sweden: Increase In Timber Exports Swedish exports of sawn and planed timber in 2014 amounted to 12.3 million cubic metres, a 6% increase from Exports to the UK amounted to 2.6 million cubic metres, a 12% rise, and 1.6 million cubic metres were exported to Egypt, a 36% increase. 480,000 cubic metres of timber were exported to China, 16% more than in Of the total exports in 2014, 7.4 million cubic metres went to Europe, 2.8 million to Africa, 1.9 million to Asia and 0.2 million to the US and Australia. Skogsland, 03 Mar 2015 Page 4 of 6

5 Norway: Statskog Limit Forest Sales State-owned Norwegian forest company Statskog wishes to limit sales of its forests to 750 square kilometres. This is only 150 square kilometres more than what have already been submitted for sale. The Norwegian Government has previously declared that 1,100 square kilometres of forests should be sold off, corresponding to what Statskog has acquired in the past years. However, this would deteriorate the operational structure, according to Statskog. Nationen, 02 Mar 2015 Australia: Country Needs To Boost Housing Stock Over the upcoming 40 years, Australia will need to boost its housing stock by over twofold to 9 million. This is to keep pace with the rise in population, which is predicted to grow around 1.3% per year to 39.7 million by According to the Housing Industry Association, unless red tape is cut and taxation is reformed, and infrastructure investment increases, the construction of 9 million more homes will be a tough feat. Australian Financial Review, 06 Mar 2015 Ecuador: 0.5 Million Hectares Of Trees To Be Planted Under the national forestation plan, at least 0.5 million hectares of trees will be planted in Ecuador until 2017, the government's minister for the environment, Lorena Tapia, has revealed. Since this plan was implemented in 2014 around 105,000 hectares have been planted with trees, compared to only 20,000 hectares that used to be planted with trees in previous years. In areas used for commercial purposes around 1,000 trees are being planted per hectare. The government has signed agreements with farmers and indigenous communities to preserve 1.5 million hectares of native forests. Ecuador has 9.73 million hectares of forests which cover 37.95% of its entire surface. El Universo, 03 Mar 2015 Page 5 of 6

6 Global: Demand For Cabinets To Rise According to The Freedonia Group, the global demand for cabinets will rise by 5.5% per annum to USD 64 billion (EUR billion) in The rise will be mainly driven by growth in developing nations. Sales of cabinets in the Asia-Pacific region will hit USD 20 billion in 2018, which is almost one-third of the total worldwide, with sales rising by 7.3% per year until Sales of cabinets in Western Europe will reach USD 17.5 billion by the same year. Meanwhile, the US will witness strong demand increases. It is the biggest market for cabinets in the world. Trade Arabia, 04 Mar 2015 Global: Tissue Paper Market Growing Global sales of tissue paper increase by almost 4% a year. The increase in demand is important for Finnish pulp producers. According to Finnish forest industry company UPM, the company's position on the markets is good as it can offer tissue producers a combination of softwood pulp and eucalyptus pulp. The article ponders why Finnish forest industry companies have not invested in the production of tissue papers in spite of the increase in demand. The conclusion is that it is generally not worthwhile to transport toilet tissue or kitchen roll further than 600 kilometres. According to Metsä Tissue's acting CEO Hannu Anttila, the company is not planning to enter the Asian markets as the required investments would be huge. Helsingin Sanomat, 06 Mar 2015 Page 6 of 6