Malaysia’s timber exports totalled US$3.77bn

3 November 2015

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Malaysia’s timber sector exports totalled RM10.46bn in the first half of the year. Wooden furniture exports accounted for the biggest share of wood product exports at RM3.33bn (31.8% of the total), reports the International Tropical Timber Organization.

Plywood exports ranked second at RM2.25bn (21.5%) followed by sawnwood exports at RM1.47bn (14%).

Log exports comprised just under 10% of all wood product exports at RM998m in the first half of this year. Exports of wooden furniture were mainly from manufacturers in Peninsular Malaysia. Furniture exports from Sabah and Sarawak combined contributed barely 1% to total furniture exports.

On the other hand, Sarawak is the biggest exporter of plywood (918,286m3, or 72% of Malaysia's total plywood export) and exporters in Sabah shipped 248,500m3 accounting for another 20% of total plywood exports.

Plymills in Peninsular Malaysia shipped 102,280m3 or 8% of total plywood shipments. Peninsular Malaysia was the leading exporter of sawnwood at 636,340m3 followed by Sarawak 276,080m3 and Sabah 107,000m3.

Companies in Sarawak dominated the log export trade by Malaysia shipping around 1.4 million m3, or 88.7% of total log exports in the first half of this year.