Wider World by CS

Myanmar timber merchants call for moves to meet demand

Tuesday, 05 March 2013 16:18 Saw Zin Nyi

Several Myanmar timber merchants claim that the country will cease exporting timber and wood products in the next two or three years due to an exponential growth in domestic demand.

But as the local demand for wood grows, they say, so must the government control logging by inviting tender bids for contracts.

“Local demand will be far higher in the next two or three years,” said Ye Htet Win, the director of National Wood Industry Ltd, a company that was targeted by Western sanctions in recent years. “The more sectors in which timber is used, the greater the demand will be. The government should allow more tender bids.”

Myanmar has recently been exporting an increased volume of wood products to Singapore and Europe. Teak is in particularly high demand; many experts and merchants say much of it is smuggled illegally to other ASEAN member states.

“Myanmar’s logs and timber products are being smuggled to neighboring countries every day,” said one merchant. “Perhaps 80 percent of logs and timber products exported to India are smuggled illegally.”

Timber merchants said that expectations are running high that large orders for timber begin to come in from EU countries after June once a bilateral agreement kicks in.

According to Bar Bar Cho, the secretary of Myanmar Timber Merchants Association, the Myanmar government intends to invite tender bids for 65,000 tons of teak logs in 2014.

He said there are currently about 200 wood factories in Yangon and Mandalay, and that the current price for Myanmar timber is around 500,000 kyat (US $585) per ton.