The Private Sector’s Perspective on the use of Forest Product Information
Somboon Chuchawal1
Figure 1. World paper consumption and the 10 biggest
paper and board suppliers globally
The Thai Pulp and Paper Industries Association is
a non profit organization, founded in 1976. Membership comprises five pulp
producers and 26 paper producers.
Figure 2. The nine biggest pulp and paper suppliers
in Thailand
Figure 3. Domestic paper capacity and consumption in Thailand
Information related to forestry
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Pulp capacity
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Paper capacity
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Kind of wood
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Industry competitiveness
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Climate
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Soil condition
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Land used
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Laws and regulations
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Logistics
Forestry information – international
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FAO
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Websites
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Journals
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Associations
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Government agencies
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Company year books
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Universities
Key forest information currently needed for the pulp and paper industry
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Soil
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Air
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Environment
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Production and trade
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Import/export
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farmers’ attitudes
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Investment
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Returns
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Woods (+ R&D)
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Plantations (+ R&D)
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Land/forest area
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Water
Figure 4. Key forest information
Sources of forest information and statistics
Government sector (Royal Forest Department, Hydrographic
Department etc.)
Pulp and paper producers
Reports (Pulp and Paper International, FAO yearbook, analysts’ reports)
Journals
Electronic data (Internet, CD ROMs)
The further development of systematic information retrieval
is needed urgently for industry competitiveness:
No forest information centre
Limited forest information sources
Lack of funds and resources
Lack of active government support
Outdated information
Difficulty in accessing and searching for data
Accuracy and reliability of data are questionable
Globalization forces private sectors to strive for productivity
improvement. Information is one of the top priorities to sustain competitiveness:
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Support from the government
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Resources and funding
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Development of an information collation system
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Support from international industry experts: FAO
and forest product associations
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Information sharing
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Best practices transfer
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Standardization
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Government agencies
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Company year books
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Websites
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Associations
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Universities
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Journals
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Quality data
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State-of-the-art knowledge
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Provision on hard and soft copy
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User friendly and easy to read information
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Information from hands-on experience
1 President, The Siam Pulp and Paper Public Company Limited,
1 Siam Cement Road, Bangsue, Bangkok 10800.
Phosphate and Potash Institute?
