TY - JOUR
T1 - Importance of rubberwood in wood export of Malaysia and Thailand
AU - Shigematsu, Akira
AU - Mizoue, Nobuya
AU - Kajisa, Tsuyoshi
AU - Yoshida, Shigejiro
N1 - Funding Information:
The institutional system for both latex and rubberwood production in Malaysia is shown in Fig. 1. The Rubber Industry Smallholding Development Agency of Malaysia (RISDA) is the core entity for supporting rubber smallholders and was established in 1973 under the Ministry of Rural Development. RISDA provides smallholders with two services in terms of techniques and finance. First, technical services are to distribute the planting materials and to provide field extensions. Support for planting materials includes the retail sale of new clones with high yielding properties for both latex and timber, a strategy aimed at enhancing the productivity of both latex and wood (ITTO 2005a; MRB 2005; World Bank 1994a). These clones were developed by the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM), an arm of the Malaysia Rubber Board (MRB) (ITTO 2005a; MRB 2005). Field extension support is provided to smallholders to introduce appropriate management methods for rubber plantations to ensure they can achieve higher productivity in both latex and wood (Hasan 2007). The RRIM and Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) provide technical advice to improve the processing of rubberwood. Second, RISDA provides financial support to smallholders for replacing old rubber trees. A subsidy of US$2,121 ha-1 (RM 7,000 ha-1) is paid in disbursements over 6 years until latex collection has started. A rubber export tax (US$99.3 t-1) is collected by the government from export sales and provided to RISDA to fund the program of financial support for rubber replanting activities (SOFRECO 2007).
PY - 2011/3
Y1 - 2011/3
N2 - We examined the contribution of rubberwood to the timber export markets of Malaysia and Thailand. In Malaysia, rubberwood has grown from 26% of total exported wood products in 1998 to 35% in 2007. A high proportion of furniture products (80%) is rubberwood, whereas the contribution of rubberwood to other wooden products is less than 20%. Only 10% of sawn timber and logs is rubberwood. In Thailand, rubberwood contributes to around 60% of total exported wood products, arising from a high share of not only furniture products (70%) but also other wood products (around 50%) and sawn timber and logs, which have increased in share from 40% in 1998 to 79% in 2007. We conclude that the high proportion of rubberwood products in the wood export markets of these two countries is a result of: (1) scarcity of raw wood materials because of strict controls on the logging of natural forests; and (2) governmental support to rubberwood production, including financial support to rubber planters and technical assistance to downstream timber processors.
AB - We examined the contribution of rubberwood to the timber export markets of Malaysia and Thailand. In Malaysia, rubberwood has grown from 26% of total exported wood products in 1998 to 35% in 2007. A high proportion of furniture products (80%) is rubberwood, whereas the contribution of rubberwood to other wooden products is less than 20%. Only 10% of sawn timber and logs is rubberwood. In Thailand, rubberwood contributes to around 60% of total exported wood products, arising from a high share of not only furniture products (70%) but also other wood products (around 50%) and sawn timber and logs, which have increased in share from 40% in 1998 to 79% in 2007. We conclude that the high proportion of rubberwood products in the wood export markets of these two countries is a result of: (1) scarcity of raw wood materials because of strict controls on the logging of natural forests; and (2) governmental support to rubberwood production, including financial support to rubber planters and technical assistance to downstream timber processors.
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U2 - 10.1007/s11056-010-9219-7
DO - 10.1007/s11056-010-9219-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79951772972
SN - 0169-4286
VL - 41
SP - 179
EP - 189
JO - New Forests
JF - New Forests
IS - 2
ER -