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Sudden Log Ban To Protect Malaysian Industry
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Sudden Log Ban To Protect Malaysian Industry

Malaysia has been forced to slap an immediate blanket ban on the importation of all logs from Indonesia to protect its threatened timber trade ¨C particularly with Northern Hemisphere customers. Announcing the decision in late June, the Malaysian Ministry of Primary Industries said the decision was taken "in the interest of the country, and to erase the negative perception against our timber industry". Persistent allegations of its involvement in illegal timber trade from Indonesia, and in on-selling value-added products made from black market tropical timber have severely affected Malaysia¡¯s reputation and export trade.

The ministry statement said the ban was a signal to buyers that all timber and timber products exported from Malaysia were from legal and sustainable sources. Strict enforcement of tough new laws against illegal logging had eliminated the problem in Malaysia, according to the ministry. "We now wish to dissociate ourselves completely from the illegal log trade from Indonesia." The ban took effect on June 25.

Source: NZforestry.co.nz