The Sarawak State government has plans to make the state a centre for acacia furniture manufacturing. To move this plan along furniture manufacturers in China have been invited to consider working with partners in Sarawak to manufacture acacia furniture for export. This invitation came from the Assistant Minister of Industrial Development during meetings with China Timber and Wood Products Distribution Association (CTWPDA).
The Minister said Sarawak has the raw materials and suitable infrastructure to support growth in the furniture manufacturing sector. The policy of the State government aims to see 1 million hectares of forest plantation by 2020.
Currently, almost 400,000 ha of fast growing tree species such as Acacia mangium have been established. Since 1989 the state has had a policy of promoting further processing and this has had some success as Sarawak is the largest exporter of tropical hardwood plywood in the region.
Last year, Sarawak produced 2.3 million cubic metres of plywood, 0.8 million cubic metres of sawnwood and 0.8 million cubic metres of other products such as veneer, mouldings, laminboard, particleboard, MDF and laminated flooring.
The State also produced 0.6 million metric tonnes of woodchip, charcoal briquette, wood pellet and door skins. The state produced 8 million cubic metres of logs from natural forest and 911,000 cubic metres of logs from forest plantations.
