Private companies in Myanmar propose to cultivate more timber

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13:49, January 11, 2009

Local private companies in Myanmar have proposed to the government to cultivate 81,000 hectares more of timber in two division and state for the development of the sector, the Voice weekly reported Sunday, quoting the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Presented by the ATSO Green, Yeedagon, NRTC and Honda companies, a total of 48,600 hectares and 7,493 hectares will be respectively grown in Bago division and Kachin state, the report said.

Permitted by the government, private companies had cultivated 810 hectares of timber since 2005.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has been holding international wood log tender sale of thousands of tons monthly since decades ago, tendered by dozens of local and foreign timber companies.

Occasionally, the state enterprise cut the sale quota to enhance the export of value-added finished products which are recommended as more profitable than the log export.

Export of wood log is traditionally restricted in Myanmar and export of teak log by the private sector was banned since 1992 when the government enacted the Forest Law.



According to official statistics, Myanmar exported 399,596 cubic-meters of teak and 1.12 million cubic-meters of hardwood in the fiscal year of 2007-08, gaining a total of 538 million U.S. dollars of foreign exchange.

During the year, timber stood as the country's fourth largest export goods after natural gas, agricultural produces and mineral products.

Myanmar is rich in forest resources with forest covering about 50 percent of its total land area.

Source: Xinhua