National forest products statistics, Pakistan

Introduction

Pakistan has 4.2 million ha of forest and planted trees, which equates to 4.8 percent of the total land area. Forty percent of the forest area comprises coniferous and scrub forest in the northern hills and mountains. The balance includes irrigated plantations, riverine forests along major rivers of the Indus plains, mangrove forests of the Indus delta and trees planted on farmlands.

With only 0.05 ha of forest per capita against a world average of 1.0 ha, Pakistan is comparatively forest-poor. The high population growth rate (2.61 percent) is pushing the figure further down and, at present, it is not possible to expand public forest area at a high enough rate to keep up with demand for forest products. However, farmers are encouraged to establish plantations on farmlands and wastelands to help ameliorate the situation.

Benefits from forestry in Pakistan include the following:

• Five hundred thousand workers are employed in forestry and related industries such as logging, village carpentry and manufacture of timber components for the construction industry. However, the forestry sector contributes only 0.3 percent to GNP.
  
  
• Between 1996 and 2000, on average, 31.66 million m³ of roundwood and 2.35 million m³ of industrial roundwood were produced annually from state forests and farmlands. A further 532 000 m³ of industrial roundwood was imported annually to meet national demand.
  
  
• Forests supply 32 percent of Pakistan’s total energy needs in the form of fuelwood. Ninety percent of rural, and sixty percent of urban households use fuelwood, together with other forms of biomass as their primary energy source.
  
  
• Forests provide forage for one third of Pakistan’s 86 million head of livestock. Leather, wood and other livestock products contribute US$400 million or 9 percent of total export earnings. Trampling and browsing by increasing numbers of livestock are causing forest destruction and uncontrolled grazing is a major obstacle to sustainable forest management.
  
  
• Forests are vital in protecting the catchment areas of reservoirs used for power generation and irrigation. Agriculture, which contributes 26 percent to GDP, is highly dependent on irrigation in Pakistan and annual losses due to flooding, soil erosion in upland watersheds and siltation in reservoirs and irrigation works is estimated at Rs.2.3 billion.

In Pakistan forests are classified on the basis of legal status, function, vegetation composition and ownership. Types of state and privately owned forests are detailed in the following sections. Table 1 gives details of the areas of State and Private forest sub-categories in Pakistan’s provinces.

State owned forests comprise 85 percent percent of Pakistan’s total forest area of 87.98 million ha. They are further divided into four classes on the basis of the legal designation and protection:

• Reserved Forests. Forests under Forest Department control and declared ‘Reserved Forests’ under the 1927 Forest Act. Local people generally do not have rights and privileges unless specifically permitted by Government notification.
  
  
• Protected Forests. Forests, declared as ‘Protected Forests’ under provision of the 1927 Forest Act. Local people have some rights and concessions for grazing, grass cutting, collection of dry wood, etc.
  
  
• Un-classed Forests. Public forestlands under the control of the Forest Department, which are neither Reserved Forests nor Protected Forests.
  
  
• Resumed Lands. Lands surrendered by larger owners following the fixing of a ceiling on the extent of land ownership under the Land Reforms Act of 1959. Concerned landowners retained cultivated lands but surrendered wooded lands in excess of the ceiling. These resumed lands are managed by the Forest Department.

Table 1. Forest area by legal classification and province (‘000 ha)

1- 6 287 000 ha of rangelands are included in table figures.

Privately owned forest is a broad classification encompassing all forests held in private ownership. There are five categories, as follows:

• Guzara (subsistence) Forests. Sizeable patches of wooded land close to habitation, which were set aside to meet the bona fide domestic needs of local communities. They were designated when government forests were reserved at the first land ownership settlement in Hazara, NWFP, 1872. Ownership is vested in local people either individually, or communally as ‘village shamilat’.
  
  
• Communal Forests. Communal forests are a sub-category of Guzara Forests. However, communal forest is essentially owned by the entire village. Communal Forests are mostly found in the Rawalpindi Civil Division of Punjab Province.
  
  
• Chos Act Areas. Privately owned lands subject to erosion hazard endangering vital public installations or structures and taken over by the Government under the Chos Act, 1900. These areas may be returned to their original owners after stabilisation.
  
  
• Section 38 Areas. Areas offered by Private owners to the Forest Departments for afforestation and management for an agreed period ranging from 10 to 20 years under Section 38 of the Pakistan Forest Act, 1927. Section 38 states that: "The owner of any land or, if there be more than one owner thereof, the owners of shares therein amounting in the aggregate to at least two-thirds thereof may, with a view to the formation or conservation of forests thereon, represent in writing to the Collector their desire that: such land be managed on their behalf by the Forest Officer as a Reserved or a Protected Forests on such terms as may be mutually agreed upon; or all or any of the provisions of this Act be applied to such land. In either case, the Provincial Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, apply to such land such provisions of this Act as it thinks suitable to the circumstances thereof and as may be desired by the applicants".
  
  
• Farm Forest Areas. Farm Forests are linear or compact plantings of trees on private farmlands owned individually or by a family. Farm forest areas are found throughout the barani (arid areas) and irrigated farming areas of Pakistan.

The Forest Department maintains records of the forest area over which it has jurisdiction. Forest cover information is derived from Forest Department surveys and working plan inventories. Although Forest Reserves are accurately surveyed, area estimates for Protected Forests and other categories of Government forest are less reliable and no records concerning private or communal forests are kept. Areas typically cited as ‘Forest Areas’, referring to lands under Forest Department control, are summarised in Table 2.

Table 2. Forestland under government jurisdiction by province (‘000 ha)

1. 29 000 ha Forest Department, 43 000 ha Murree-Kahuta Development Authority; 2. 63 000 ha unstocked; 3. 53 000 ha unstocked; 4. 24 000 ha unstocked; 5. 114 000 ha unstocked. 6. Sindh Forest Department (281 000 ha), Qasim Port Authority (64 000 ha) and the Central Board of Revenue (240 000 ha); 7. NWFP Forest Department estimate for planting under watershed management projects.

Sources: Pakistan Forest Institute (Amjad and Khan, 1990); Provincial Forest Departments.

Under the Forestry Sector Master Plan (FSMP) national forest cover was independently estimated through interpretation of 1:250 000 scale satellite images. Results are shown in Table 3.

Table 3. FSMP Estimates of Forest Area (‘000 ha)

1-For Northern Areas, this category includes scrub. Source: FSMP database.

Between 1990 and 1992, the Household Energy Strategy Study (HESS) conducted an analysis of nationwide tree biomass and productivity. Total standing volume was estimated at 240 million m³, the number of standing trees at 1 435 million, total air-dry wood weight at 203 million tons and the average stocking density at 2.38 tons per hectare. Total wood yield was estimated at 22.2 million tons per annum or 10.9 percent of the standing stock. Definitions used for woodfuel and timber are given in Box 1 and estimates of total standing wood volume from the HESS Biomass Survey are given in Table 4.

The Forestry Sector Master Plan (FSMP) calculated a total growing stock of 185 million m³. The 1992 FSMP farm tree survey estimated a standing stock of trees on farms of 70.3 million m³ with an annual growth rate of 7.7 million m³. By combining data from Forest Department working plans, the farmland tree survey and HESS, FSMP estimated a total national standing volume of 368 million m³.

Table 4. Estimates of standing wood volume (‘000 m³) by agroecological zone

Source: HESS Biomass Survey

According to the HESS demand survey, conducted in four provinces, 125.1 million trees were planted on farmlands in 1990-91 and 10.8 million were felled; of those planted, 13.2 million (11 percent) were fruit trees. Tree planting and felling rates in different provinces calculated by HESS are given in Table 5.

Table 5. Tree planting and felling rates in four provinces

Source: HESS Demand Survey

Review of wood consumption by sub-sector

In Pakistan, almost all softwood comes from state forests in NWFP, Northern Areas and AJK, whereas most hardwood is from the plains area of Punjab and Sindh. Ninety percent of hardwood comes from farmlands and the remaining 10 percent from irrigated plantations.

The solid wood industry in Pakistan is artisanal and small scale. Wood is considered a valuable resource and any solid ‘waste’ is carefully re-sawn for manufacture of smaller products with leftovers finally sold as fuelwood. Users and uses of wood are outlined in the following sections.

The construction industry is the largest single user of roundwood in Pakistan, consuming about 30 percent of the total. Builders purchase logs or scant (squared timber) and convert them according to their needs.

Pakistan has more than 8 000 sawmills, employing an average of four or five people and processing 2-5 m³ per day. There are also twelve large sawmills, which operate at well below their average production capacity of 50 m³ per day. On the whole, sawmills produce low quality outturn as a result of the preferred species not always being available and a lack of product standardisation, grading and quality control.

The most common sawmills products are fruit boxes and crates, which are manufactured by units attached to the mills. The entire conversion from roundwood to finished product is thus handled by a single small enterprise. Crates for transporting fruit and vegetables are assembled in the fruit producing areas, whilst boxes are made near industrial centres. The industry uses a variety of species, the main ones being shisham (Dalbergia sissoo, 70 percent), deodar (Cedrus deodara, 12 percent), Sufeda (Eucalyptus camaldulensis, 7 percent), fir (Abies pindrow, 5 percent), poplar (Populus deltoids, 3 percent) and babul (Acacia nilotica, 3 percent).

Furniture is made by hundreds of small-scale enterprises in Pakistan. Traditionally, furniture manufacture was considered under the village carpentry sub-sector. Now, however, new modern furniture factories have been established by the private sector in Gujarat, Jhang and Peshawar.

Nearly all wood used for furniture making is shisham (Dalbergia sissoo, 82 percent), with small quantities of deodar (Cedrus deodara), poplar (Populus deltoids), mulberry (Morus alba) and other species. The furniture makers themselves saw most wood. An FSMP survey estimated urban consumption of wood for furniture at 5.9 m³ per 1000 population.

Village carpenters produce a wide variety of products including furniture, agricultural implements, doors and windows. Carpenters generally do all the conversion from roundwood to finished product themselves and sometimes also fell client’s trees. The most commonly used species are babul (38 percent), shisham (16 percent), Zizyphus jujuba (15 percent) and deodar (8 percent). In 1992, FSMP estimated rural wood consumption for village carpentry at 3.7 m³ per 1 000 capita.

There are twelve match factories in Pakistan, four in NWFP, four in Sindh, three in Punjab and one in AJK. All match splints are made from poplar, of which 90 percent is from private growers. Each cubic meter of roundwood yields 13 200 boxes of matches, however, conversion efficiency is only 20-30 percent because of the small logs used. Between 1977 and 1988 the industry grew at an annual rate of 6.7 percent with 2.491 billion boxes produced in 1988. If production continues to increase at the same rate, production will exceed 14 billion boxes per year by 2018. Projected wood requirement for 2018 is thus 996 000 m³ assuming current levels of production efficiency.

Pakistan extracts many minerals, but only the coal industry uses large amounts of timber. In the pits, babul poles are used for structural timbers and babul planks are for facing timbers. Approximately 56 m³ of mining timber are used per 1000 tonnes of coal extracted.

Particle board (also called chipboard) is made by mixing wood chips with glue and pressing the mixture into a panel, whereas fibreboard is manufactured by reducing wood chips to fibres and pressing them into panels without glue. Both are high value-added products and make efficient use of any kind of wood residue, including plantation thinnings, branches and tops. The only competing use for this kind of wood is for fuel. A viable market for these boards benefits private tree growers, who harvest trees when they are still small.

The annual raw material requirement for particle board and fibreboard was estimated by the FSMP at a constant 22 000 m³ per year.

There are sixteen particle board plants in the country using wood or bagasse. Of the eleven plants using wood, six are in Sindh, four in Punjab and one in NWFP. The preferred species for particle board are mango (60 percent) and poplar (30 percent) and although plants are not limited by wood supply, mango wood availability is seasonal and spasmodic.

Although the construction industry has begun to use particle board, the bulk is used by large furniture makers. It has yet to catch on with smaller manufacturers and thus, the potential for replacing solid wood in the furniture industry has yet to be fully realised. Due to limited current demand and manufacturers apprehensions about future demand, plants currently operate at an average of only 48 percent capacity although most have sufficient wood supply.

There are five fibreboard plants in Pakistan, four using wood and one bagasse. Babul (97 percent) and eucalyptus (3 percent) are the preferred species. Fibreboard may be used as a substitute for plywood, which costs four times more than fibreboard. Fibreboard plants, nevertheless, only operate at 23 percent of installed capacity and the fibreboard industry is stagnant.

There are 17 plywood plants in Pakistan; ten of them are in the Punjab, six in Sindh and one in NWFP. The installed capacity of the mills is 1.6 million m³ per shift (eight working hours). One mill operates on three shifts, whereas others operate at less than 50 percent capacity. If they could obtain sufficient supplies of high quality wood, most mills would operate three shifts. Indeed, some plants, to supplement supplies, go through the lengthy and costly process of importing small amounts of teak, keruing and other woods from Southeast Asia. Production of plywood increased from 30 000 m³ in 1996 to 47,000 m³ in 2000.

Annually, Pakistan Railways use an average of 1 350 m³ of roundwood for new construction and 5 050 m³ for maintenance; 60 percent of wood used is deodar and 40 percent shisham. In general, wood is gradually being replaced by metallic and non-metallic fibrous materials in the railway industry and it is therefore expected that wood consumption will remain constant or decrease.

For new truck and bus bodies, some 30 000 m³ of roundwood was used in 1990. The main species were shisham (60 percent), fir (25 percent) and chir pine (10 percent) with small quantities of babul, deodar, and chilghoza. The volumes used are likely to increase even though bus and truck bodies are increasingly being constructed with greater amounts of plastic and metal.

Shipbuilding uses 13 640 m³ of wood annually, comprising 10 040 m³ for ocean-going fishing boats, 3 200 m³ for freshwater fishing vessels and 400 m³ for other boats. The main species used for boat building are deodar (38 percent), shisham (32 percent), teak (24 percent) and kikar (6 percent).

In the past, Pakistan Railways has used high value species such as deodar (90 percent) and shisham (10 percent) for sleepers, however, these could be replaced with less valuable species such eucalyptus in the future. Furthermore, demand for wooden sleepers is declining due to a gradual shift toward road transport and the closure of unprofitable rail routes by Pakistan Railways in recent years. Pakistan Railways has also begun a program to replace wooden, iron and steel sleepers with pre-stressed concrete ones.

Pakistan produces and exports a variety of wooden sports goods, including hockey sticks (about 60 percent of the world supply), cricket bats and tennis, squash and badminton rackets. Between 1985 and 1990 the amount of roundwood used by the sports goods industry fell by 20 percent from 50 220 m³ to 41 000 m³. FSMP assumed an annual growth rate of 8 percent for the entire sports goods industry. Hockey sticks are made from mulberry, with small amounts of ash and cane for the handle. Cricket bats, on the other hand were made of willow around 1980, now, however, poplar is now used for 80 percent of them.

Total production from brick kilns in 1990 comprised 11 118 million bricks and 1 227 million tiles. On average, 4.3 m³ of fuelwood and 271 tonnes of coal are used to cure one million bricks. Fuelwood consumption for brick and tile production in 1990 was estimated by FSMP at 83 370 m³.

In 1987, fuelwood consumption per tonne of green tobacco averaged 1.26 m³. Between 1978 and 1984, Pakistan’s annual tobacco production ranged between 64 700 and 89 200 tonnes. Total fuelwood consumption in 1984 would therefore have equalled 112 400 m³.

Review of existing forest products related data

The following ministries/departments are engaged in collection, analysis and dissemination of forest products data:

• The Office of the Inspector General of Forests, Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development.
  
  
• Ministry of Industries and Production.
  
  
• Ministry of Commerce.
  
  
• Federal Bureau of Statistics.
  
  
• Pakistan Custom Department.
  
  
• Central Board of Revenue.
  
  
• State Bank of Pakistan.
  
  
• Provincial Forest Departments.
  
  
• Pakistan Forest Institute

Current users of FBS forest products production and trade data include:

• The Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Planning & Development Division, (for approval of development projects),
  
  
• Export Promotion Bureau
  
  
• Provincial Forest Departments (to validate revenue receipts)
  
  
• Provincial Planning and Development Boards (to guide recommendations for funding development work),
  
  
• The Ministry of Finance,
  
  
• Provincial Finance Departments
  
  
• The State Bank of Pakistan,
  
  
• The Central Board of Revenue.
  
  
• Chamber of commerce and trade
  
  
• Exporters & importers
  
  
• Universities and Educational institutions
  
  
• Donor agencies

Use of CHK data is confined to the Central Board of Revenue and the Ministry of Finance.

Information presently collected at the local and national level includes the following:

• Forest area under compact plantation
• Forest Area under linear plantation (roadside/rail side canal plantation)
• Area afforested/reforested under different schemes
• Forest Departments Nurseries
• Planting stock available or distributed during tree planting campaigns
• Revenue generated from grazing and grass cutting
• Work done for rangelands improvement
• Work done to develop sericulture (rearing of silkworms)
• Work done for watershed management
• Area subject to felling and thinning
• Out-turn of timber from state forests
• Yield of fuelwood from state forests
• Forest crop damage through natural causes (flood, fire and others)
• Import/export of forest products
• Surveys for removal and production of processed wood

Annual production of wood and quantities imported between 1996-2000 are shown in Table 6 along with the percentage of consumption (imports+consumption) imported.

Statistics from the publication of the Federal Bureau of Statistics, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan for 1996 to 2000 show that for the 1995-96 financial year the value of the imported products listed in Table 6 amounted to Rs.8 032.874 million. For the four following years the amounts were Rs.6 713.419 million, Rs.7 458.516 million and Rs.10 634.853 million and Rs.6 525.584 million.

Between 1996 and 2000, wood products exports from Pakistan were confined to wooden furniture, small amounts of stationery (registers, diaries, letters, etc.) and some shisham (Dalbergia sissoo) table and kitchen wear. Export earnings during 1995-96 and the four following years were Rs.80.795 million, Rs.148.338 million, Rs.285.244 million, Rs.263.183 million and Rs.417.635 million respectively. Export and import values are plotted in Figure 1.

Table 6. Average Annual Wood Production and Quantity Imported for 1996-2000

Figure 1. Value of wood products import and export 1996-2000

The major suppliers of wood products imports between 1996 and 2000 were as follows:

• Roundwood: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Malaysia and Singapore. Softwood was imported from Afghanistan and teak and other non-coniferous wood from Myanmar, Malaysia and African countries.
  
  
• Veneer and Plywood: Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Singapore and USA.
  
  
• Sawnwood: UK, USA, Romania, Myanmar, Malaysia and Singapore.
  
  
• Wood Pulp: Sweden, Switzerland, USA and South Korea. Pakistan imported a huge quantity of paper and paperboard i.e. graphic paper, newspaper print.
  
  
• Paper and paperboard: France, Russian Federation, Sweden, Japan, Italy, Finland and South Korea.
  
  
• Packaging material: Brazil, China, Italy, Poland, Spain, Romania and USA.
  
  
• Other paper and paperboard not elsewhere specified: France, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa, Norway, Spain, UK and USA.
  
  
• Special coated paper: Asian countries, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, South Korea, UK and USA.
  
  
• Copying paper: China, Japan and UK.
  
  
• Household sanitary papers: China, Dubai, Norway, South Korea, Thailand, UK and USA.
  
  
• Packaging cartons and boxes: Austria, Australia, Dubai, Switzerland and USA.

Methodologies for data collection, compilation, validation and dissemination

Public forests (i.e. coniferous, riverine, scrub and mangrove forest and irrigated and linear plantations) supply most of the national industrial wood requirement and some of its fuelwood. Within public forest areas, Divisional Forest Officers (DFO) record production data on the basis of actual fellings. Enumeration of trees to be felled is carried out and diameter of the respective trees is recorded at breast height. Log volumes are computed on the basis of the quarter girth formula, with allowances made for bark. Fuelwood is laid in stacks of 40 feet in length, 5 feet in width and 5 feet in height, giving a total volume of 1000 cft. including void space. Measurements of woody produce (log and fuelwood) are recorded in respective forms at compartment and forest level.

Production is reported at monthly intervals through the forest operation report by the DFO to the Conservator of Forests. The Conservator of Forests (CF) compiles the annual production report for his circle and submits it to the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) using the control form of timber and fuelwood production. The revenue generated through harvesting is also reported on monthly basis and is validated through inspection by the CF and CCF. The Revenue Wing of the Forest Department also audits revenues collected.

In contrast to State forest production data, which is based on field measurements, farmland production is estimated through surveys and studies conducted by the forest departments, NGOs and the Pakistan Forest Institute. Final production figures are arrived at through estimation and projection of survey/study results.

International trade statistics are collected by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) and the Data Processing Centre (DPC), Custom House, Karachi (CHK). The FBS obtains international trade statistics through collection of Bills of Entry (BOE) and Shipping Bills (SB) from 44 customs points. It has attained 100 percent coverage and retrieval of international trade data. The CHK is confined to Karachi only and has yet to expand to cover the whole country. The FBS and CHK data are verified with data from revenue receipts from the Central Board of Revenue and with export/import remittance data from the State Bank of Pakistan. As a result of cross checking at four levels the data is considered reliable.

The information collected by FBS includes country of origin and quantity and value of imports and exports. Data collected and published includes:

• Monthly and cumulative values and quantities of imports and exports with details of important items. Issued in ‘Advance release of Foreign Trade Statistics’ in the month following data collection.
  
  
• Monthly and cumulative imports and exports by commodity, and short shipment exports.
  
  
• Data for the last quarter and whole financial year on (i) import and export value of commodities by section and group, and (ii) import and export value and quantity by commodity and country. The information is published annually in ‘Foreign Trade Statistics of Pakistan’.
  
  The DPC and CHK collect information on the value of imports and total import duty, split according to duty free and dutiable imports. Information collected and published includes:
  
  
• Item-wise details of commodities imported for home-consumption and their value.
  
  
• Heading and sub-heading wise details of commodities imported and their value.
  
  
• Import rate-wise value of imports and actual import duty.
  
  
• A comparative statement of imports by economic category.
  
  
• A comparative statement of selected items giving total import value of dutiable and duty free imports, and collection of customs duty.
  
  
• Information on exemptions by SROs giving assessed value, import duty, cost of Iqra (educational) surcharge and sales tax.

The FBS use the Standard International Trade Classification, Revision-3 (SITC, Rev.3) in the form of a conversion made in July 1989 called the Pakistan Standard Trade Classification. Although, a full description of the coding system has not been published the revised classification uses seven digit codes for each commodity. For example 6 343 100 is allotted to plywood sheets outer-ply, 6 343 900 to other plywood sheets, 6 344 101 to laminated sheets, 634 909 to other plywood (i.e. veneered panel). Since the system has been in place there has been some confusion encountered in using the commodity codes and descriptions.

Quarterly information published by the Federal Bureau of Statistics is occasionally incomplete and does not include full information on imports by commodity and country. However, the biannual forest trade statistics published by the FBS does provide complete information and this data is compared and revalidated with that of the Pakistan Customs.

The WCO Harmonised System (HS) has been adopted by the Pakistan Customs Department. Eight columns are used to categorise each commodity as detailed in the Imports and Exports Trade Guide, Central Excise and Sales Tax Tariffs produced by the Central Board of Revenue. The system is as follows:

Column 1: Heading number based on the headings of Harmonised System of Coding and Commodity Description.

Column 2: Sub-heading number based on the Harmonised System or created to suit national requirements.

Column 3: Description of items.

Column 4: Rate of duty applicable.

Column 5: Rate of sales tax.

Column 6: Conditions of Import of goods (in accordance with the Import Policy).

Column 7: Unit of quantity in which goods are to be invoiced.

Column 8: Standard Internat ional Trade Classification, Revision 3 developed by the International Bureau of Statistics.

Production data for processed forest products (i.e. wood charcoal, wood chips and particles, wood residues, sawnwood, veneer sheets, plywood, particle board, pulp and paper) is collected through surveys and studies carried out under development projects. The data is normally collected by way of questionnaires or visits to concerned industries.

Weakness and constraints in current statistical system

General weaknesses and constraints in the existing national system of forest products data collection, analysis and dissemination include the following:

In Pakistan, planning, execution and implementation of forestry and range management programmes is the responsibility of the Provincial Forest Departments. Policy, however, is a federal responsibility and this has led to a fragmented forestry sector lacking consistency and unity.

The present skeleton staff lack computer facilities and the necessary support to develop a central forestry database for analysis of information, policy formulation and strategic planning.

Production data for farmlands and forest industries is based on surveys and studies carried out by the Provincial Forest Departments and the Pakistan Forest Institute. A substantial amount of money is required to carry out such studies at regular intervals.

Forest trade industries are reluctant to provide accurate data, as they do not fully understand the purposes for which the information is used.

Suggestions

Studies should be updated at five yearly intervals to allow a clear understanding of forest products production and consumption patterns and of natural resource use. Studies of the following subjects are required:

• Fuelwood consumption in Pakistan.
  
  
• Annual wood use in construction and building.
  
  
• Species-wise consumption of wood for furniture.
  
  
• Industrial wood use.
  
  
• Consumption of fuelwood by the tobacco and brick industries.
  
  
• Chipboard units and their wood consumption.
  
  
• Wood consumption by chipboard, hardboard, veneer and plywood units in Pakistan.
  
  
• Wood consumption by the pulp and paper mills in Pakistan.
  
  
• Wood consumption by the match industry.
  
  
• Wood consumed in village carpentry.

Other suggestions and requirements for improvement of the statistical system in Pakistan are as follows:

• Capacity building is required in the areas of data collection, data entry, error checking and data analysis.
  
  
• Statistical models are required for survey analysis and appraisal.
  
  
• Systems are required for storage and rapid retrieval of data.
  
  
• There is a need for a regional data collection and networking system.
  
  
• Capacity building is required at the national regional and provincial levels to improve understanding of the Harmonised System (HS) and the Standard International Trade Code (SITC) classification.

References

Anon, 1998. Foreign Trade Statistics of Pakistan, 1995-96 & 1996-97. Federal Bureau of Statistics, Government of Pakistan.

Anon, 1998. Pakistan Customs Tariff, Imports & Exports Trade Guide, Pakistan Customs Department, Central Board Revenue, Government of Pakistan.

Anon, 1999. Foreign Trade Statistics of Pakistan, 1996-97 & 1997-98. Federal Bureau of Statistics, Government of Pakistan.

Anon, 1999. CBR Year Book 1997-98.Stastic Wing, Central board Revenue, Government of Pakistan.

Anon, 2000. Foreign Trade Statistics of Pakistan, 1999-2000. Federal Bureau of Statistics, Government of Pakistan.

Archer, G. 1993. Pakistan Household Energy Strategy Study (HESS) Planning and Development Division, Government of Pakistan.

Bukhari A.S. 1990. Wood Consumption Survey of the Railway Industry in Pakistan – Consultancy Report. Envoforestry (Pvt) Ltd.

MSJ Research Institute 1991. A Survey of the Sawmilling/Crate/Box Making Industry in Pakistan – Consultancy Report, MSJ Research Institute Karachi.

NMC, 1990. Consumption of Wood in the Chipboard/Particle Board and Hardboard Industries of Pakistan – Consultancy Report, NMC (Pvt) Ltd.

MSJ Research Institute, 1991. A Survey of the Truck & Bus Body, Tractor Trolley and Boat Building Industry in Pakistan – Consultancy Report.

MSJ Research Institute, 1991. A Survey of the Furniture Industry in Pakistan – Consultancy Report.

Punjab Forest Department, 1999. Statistical Handbook of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries Department.

Reid, C. and Associates, 1992. Forestry Sector Master Plan (FSMP) Reid, Collins Associate, Canada, Silviconsult Ltd, Sweden.

Siddiqui K.M. & Khan Saliheen, 1995. Wood Use in Match Industry of Pakistan. Pakistan Forest Institute, Peshawar.