BIOD: 1995 Tropical Log Trade Report
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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
1995 ITTO Report on the Tropical Log Trade
Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
10/13/96
OVERVIEW & SOURCE by EE
Following is a report by the International Tropical Timber Organisation
concerning the state of the tropical log trade in 1995. It is chalk full of
interesting information documenting emergent trends in industrial rainforest
conversion. Interesting findings include continued decline in Malaysian
production (a failed forest management effort), increased logging in Africa and
South America (the Amazon is particularly inviting for the ravenous tropical
timber industry), a diversification of log sources for Japan and other Asian
processors as traditional sources have been overharvested, and some former
tropical log exporters have become importers of tropical logs as their tropical
forests plunder is complete. Surprisingly, the source of this article is a
paid
supplement by the Papua New Guinea Forest Industries Association in the PNG
weekly paper, _The Independent_. It is ironic that so many of the main points
in the article clearly illustrate the short term nature of industrial forestry
development; just as the failed model of Malaysian forestry practices is being
replicated in Papua New Guinea, Africa and increasingly in the
Amazon.
THE World trade in tropical logs is centred around three major producing
areas -
Central Africa, Latin America and Asia/Pacific. The International Tropical
Timber Organisation (I.T.T.O) has prepared its initial review of the tropical
log trade for 1995.
_Log production_
The production of tropical logs in ITTO producer member countries totalled
132.8
million m3 in 1995, down two per cent from 135.6 million m3 in 1993. Decreases
in Malaysian production were responsible for most of this decline, with most
major African and Latin American producing countries increasing production in
1993-1994 before stabilising in 1995. Figure 1 shows ITTO's five major
tropical
log producers through 1995. Malaysian production, which peaked at 43.5
million
m3 in 1992, dropped to 35 million m3 in 1995, a 20 per cent reduction in just
three years.
Figure 1 (table constructed from interpretation of original bar graph, to
nearest 500,000 m3):
Major Tropical Log Producers
Volume (1000 m3)
1993 1994 1995
Malaysia 37,000 35,500 35,000
Indonesia 37,000 35,000 34,000
Brazil 23,000 25,000 26,000
India 16,000 15,000 15,000
PNG 3,000 3,500 3,000
Others 20,500 22,000 20,500
Together, the top four tropical log producing countries (Malaysia, Indonesia,
Brazil and India) comprise over 83 per cent of ITTO production. Papua New
Guinea was the fifth largest ITTO log producer in 1993, but in 1994 Cameroon
reported an increase in production of more than one million m3 (to 3.9 million
m3) driven by a jump in exports to Asia, moving it ahead of PNG in that year.
Cameroon's 1995 production dropped back to three million m3, so that PNG at 3.3
million m3 regained its number five ranking.
_Production increasing in some countries_
Ten other ITTO producer members had log production exceeding one million m3 in
1993. Half of these (Cameroon, Ecuador, Coted'Ivoire, Gabon and Peru) had
increased log production over 1993 levels in 1995, while production fell in the
other five (Myanmar, Ghana, Venezuela, Philippines and Colombia) through 1995.
Of the main producers, log production is increasing in PNG, Cameroon, Gabon and
Peru.
The regional breakdown of tropical log production and exports is given in Table
1. The Asia-pacific region's share of ITTO members' tropical hardwood log
production fell to 67 per cent in 1995 from 71 per cent in 1993, due to
Malaysian production increases. Africa's share of production remained at 7 per
cent over the period, wth Latin American production growing from 22 to 25 per
cent.
Table 1
Composition of Exports by Region, 1993-95 (100 m3 rwe)
Log Production Log Exports
1993 1994 1995 1993 1994 1995
Region
Africa 9097 10836 9660 3250 4003 3476
Asia-Pacific 96259 91674 89640 13281 12266 11608
Latin America 30204 32567 33509 251 1052 1050
Total 135560 135077 132809 16782 17321 16134
Processed Exports Total Exports
1993 1994 1995 1993 1994 1995
Region
Africa 2418 2849 2742 5668 6852 6218
Asia-Pacific 40771 37718 37794 54052 49984 49402
Latin America 3828 4526 5068 4079 5578 6118
Total 47016 45092 45603 63798 62413 61737
_Log consumption_
Figure 2 shows that tropical log consumption for 1993-95 was stable or
decreasing in the main Asian markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Japan,
with only Brazil showing a steady increase over the period (note that Japan
maintains and consumes significant stockpiles of tropical logs, accounting for
differences between consumption and import figures). These five countries
accounted for an average of 81 per cent of total ITTO consumption of tropical
logs in 1993-95. The general trend towards increasing domestic log consumption
which has been apparent in recent years will accelerate and affect all regions
in the next few years as tropical log supplies tighten and as increased
processing capacity comes on line in producing countries.
_Exports_
The composition of exports for 1993-95 from ITTO producing regions is shown in
Table 1. The contribution of logs of total tropical timber exports, including
manufactured products of ITTO producers, dropped from over 60 per cent in 1980
to an average of 26 per cent in 1993-95. A similar drop in log export revenues
was observed. Only Africa continues to export a higher volume equivalent of
logs than processed products. The Asia-Pacific region is rapidly replacing log
export with the export of processed products, spurred by Indonesian plywood
exports and Malaysian exports of sawnwood, veneer and plywood. Asian tropical
log exports made up 25 per cent of total export volume in 1993-94 dropping
to 23
per cent of total exports in 1995.
Papua New Guinea is the second largest tropical log exporter, with 1995 exports
of 2.9 million m3 worth nearly US$400 million. The bulk of PNG's log
exports go
to Japan and Republic of Korea. PNG's log export controls appear to be
working,
as the discrepancies between export/import reports are becoming less
significant.
Africa supplies the majority of the remainder of global tropical hardwood log
exports. Gabon and Cameroon are the largest exporters, but Ghana, Coted'Ivoire
and Congo all exported substantial quantities of logs in 1993-95. All of these
countries experienced large increases in exports in 1993-94, primarily to
China,
Korea and Japan, which sought new log supplies to offset decreases from
Malaysia.
Figure 2 (table constructed from interpretation of original bar graph, to
nearest 100,000 m3):
Major Tropical Log Exporters
Volume (1000 m3)
1993 1994 1995
Malaysia 9400 8500 8000
PNG 2700 3100 2800
Gabon 1500 1500 1700
Myanmar 1000 600 700
Cameroon 700 1100 1000
Others 1400 2500 2000
_Imports_
Figure 4 shows the top ITTO log importers in 1993-95. Japan still dominates
the
global tropical log market, with its demand continuing to be met primarily by
output from Malaysia, which supplied 60 per cent of Japan's total tropical log
imports of 7.6 million m3 in 1994. Decreasing log exports from Sarawak and the
export ban in Sabah have resulted in greater diversity of suppliers to the
Japanese market in recent years, including softwood and temperate hardwood log
exporters. Japan has increased tropical log imports from Africa, with 1993-94
imports over five times the 100,000m3 imported in 1992, mostly from Gabon and
Cameroon. Imports from PNG have also increased to 1.9 million m3 in 1994 from
1.1 million m3 in 1992. Increased imports from all of these sources as well as
from other non-ITTO sources such as the Solomon Islands (which supplied Japan
with almost 350,000 m3 in 1995) have not been able to offset decreases from
traditional sources, resulting in total Japanese imports of less than 6.6
million m3 in 1995.
China is the second largest ITTO tropical log importer at 3.8 million m3 in
1993, led by Taiwan Province of China's imports of almost 2.2 million m3 (down
45 per cent from 1992 levels). Aggregate imports by China and Taiwan province
of China rose to 4 million m3 in 1995, due to increases in imports by the
mainland, mainly from Africa (Gabon and Cameroon) and PNG.
The Republic of Korea is also a major ITTO tropical log consumer, absorbing 2.1
million m3 in 1993, mostly from Malaysia and PNG. Korea's imports were down
one-third from 1992 levels, with a further decrease to 1.9 million m3 in 1994-
95. Korea, like Japan and some other Asian consumers, is undertaking to shift
processing capacity to producing countries, close to resources and cheaper
labour. Korea is also importing increased quantity of logs from Africa
(primarily Ghana), with 1994 levels reaching 205,000 m3 compared to 21,000
m3 in
1992.
European countries imported over 2.4 million m3 of tropical logs in 1993, most
of which came from African producers. France remains the largest of the
European log importers, with imports of around 900,000 m3 per year over the
past
five years. France's tropical log supplies come mainly from Gabon, Cameroon
and
Congo. Italy, Portugal and Spain are also major European log importers, with
over 250,000 m3 of log imports each in 1993.
Several ITTO producing countries have become net importers of logs, indicating
the extent of wood shortages in their domestic forest sectors. Thailand and
the
Philippines were the major ITTO producer country importers of tropical logs,
reflecting resource scarcity and logging bans in these countries. Peninsular
Malaysia has also recently become a significant tropical log importer, with
imports doubling from 174,000 m3 in 1993 to 350,000 in 1995.
_Prices_
Real export prices of most species in Asian/Pacific logs increased sharply in
1993 and early 1994, due to the perception of log shortages in Asia. Real
prices more than tripled in dollar terms in some cases, causing substantial
confusion in major markets. Prices underwent a generally steady decline
throughout the last three quarters of 1994 as the Sabah export ban was relaxed
and importers adjusted to the new supply situation. However, real
Asian/Pacific
log export prices in mid-1995 remained higher than before the 1993 price
increase. Prior to 1993 most prices had been relatively stable for at least
two
years.
Real export prices for most important species of African log exports were
relatively stable or declining during the 1993-95 period, although real prices
of several species rose temporarily in mid late 1994. This was primarily
due to
increased demand from Asian markets for these species.
Figure 3 (table constructed from interpretation of original bar graph, to
nearest 100,000 m3):
Major Tropical Log Importers
Volume (1000 m3)
1993 1994 1995
Japan 8300 7600 6500
Taiwan 2200 2000 2000
Rep. of Korea 2100 1900 1800
Thailand 1600 1500 1500
China 1600 2000 2000
Others 3500 3500 3300
Figure 4 (table constructed from interpretation of original bar graph, to
nearest 500,000 m3):
Major Tropical Log Consumers
Volume (1000 m3)
1993 1994 1995
Indonesia 37000 35000 34000
Malaysia 28000 27500 27500
Brazil 22500 24000 25000
India 16000 15000 15000
Japan 10000 9000 8000
Others 26500 28000 26500
You are encouraged to utilize this information for personal campaign use. All
efforts are made to provide accurate, timely pieces; though ultimate
responsibility for verifying all information rests with the reader. Check out
our Gaia Forest Conservation Archives at URL=
http://forests.org/
Networked by:
Ecological Enterprises
Email (best way to contact)-> grbarry@students.wisc.edu
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