Japan funds US$1.4m in African timber products business
12 March 2015A new US$1.4m International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) project funded by the Government of Japan aims to promote socio-economic development and sustainable management of African forests through value-addition, expanded further processing and intra-African trade in tropical timber and timber products.
African countries import timber and timber products worth about US$4bn annually, but less than 10% of these products originate within the African continent because of the low capacity of the region's timber-processing sector and the lack of policies to promote intra-African trade.
Nevertheless, the rapid growth in the economies - and, consequently, timber demand - of many African countries presents an enormous opportunity for the African timber and timber products sector.
A vibrant local timber-processing industry based on a sustainable timber supply could play an important role in the region's sustainable development.
The need to promote the intra-African trade of timber and timber products was identified at an international conference organised by ITTO in Accra, Ghana, in 2009.
