Sarawak grows raw material imports

Sarawak has continued to increase imports of raw materials for its processing industry, according to the International Tropical Timber Organisation’s latest market report.

Raw material, including logs, sawn wood and veneer, are being imported from Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the US, with 63,000m³ (worth M$63m) imported during the first half.

Around 118,000m³ were imported during 2009 and some 72,000m³ in 2008.

The vast majority – up to 95% was imported from Australia, with veneer making up the lion’s share of imports.

For the first half of 2010, Sarawak posted earnings of M$3.67bn from timber and wood product exports, compared to M$6.59bn for the whole of 2009.