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Forest sector industry base

The forests of Asia Pacific are important for many purposes, commercial and noncommercial. Environmental protection interests are also increasingly important as either direct objectives of forest use or as constraints on other activities. However, the use of forests for commercial activities linked to timber harvest and timber processing remain critical to the basic economies of many countries in the region. This is particularly so for the developing tropical producer countries.

Table 10 derives from the ITTO 1995 Annual Review of the global tropical forestry situation. This table extracts that information for the ITTO member producer countries of the Asia Pacific region. Some 7,637 enterprises account for over 4.82 million employees. As revealed in this table, a significant majority of employees are engaged in forest products activities in India and Indonesia, together totaling 4.5 million employees. Malaysia, with over 3,400 enterprises, accounts for an additional 205.5 thousand employees.

The allocation of employment by sub-sector is difficult, with joint reporting between sub-sectors distorting the totals. For example logging and sawmill employment is not clearly differentiated in some countries. Sawmill and veneer mill employment is not clearly separated, nor is veneer and plywood employment. Absent specific data, ITTO has estimated only total employment for India. Nevertheless, it is apparent that timber harvesting (logging), sawmilling, and the production of veneer and plywood are important components of the economies of the tropical Asia Pacific Region.

Estimated industrial capacity for sawmills, veneer mills and plywood mills are reported as based on responses from ITTO member countries. Average conversion rates are also estimated for these three sectors, indicating the relative ratio of product output (in physical product units) to use of timber (roundwood). For sawmills, conversion rates cluster near 0.50 with the exception of Papua New Guinea which is estimated at only 0.25. Veneer conversion efficiency is better as reported for Indonesia and Malaysia and at 0.50 for the Philippines. Plywood conversion is more variable, from 0.70 for Malaysia to a low of 0.40 for Papua New Guinea.

Table 10. Forest Industry Structure in ITTO Producer in 1994

Industry

Logging

Saw mills

Veneer mills

Plywood mills

Others

Total

Country

Enterprises

Employees

Enterprises

Employees

Installed Capacity (1000 m³)

Avg. Conv Rate

Enterprises

Employees

Installed Capacity (1000 m³)

Avg. Conv. Rate

Enterprises

Employees

Installed Capacity (1000 m³)

Avg. Conv. Rate

Enterprises

Employees

Enterprises

Employees

Asia-Pacific

2423

115732

3757

84615

47304


152

71466

10382


169

2708

11160


1136

20485

7637

4820006

India


















2000000 1

Indonesia

575


2354


18975

0.50




0.70

120


11113

0.50

151


3200

2500000

Malaysia 2)

1815

62232

1186

64087

25693

0.50

139

62266

9840

0.65




0.70

304

16969

3444

205554

Myanmar



96

10458

878

0.53



56


3

2008

31



1666

99

14132

PNG 3)


13500



250

0.25





1

700

16

0.40

651

1850

652

16050

Philippines 4)

33

40000

121

10070

1508

0.60

13

9200

486

0.50

45



0.43

30


242

59270

Thailand


















25000 1

1) Number of employees of sawmills includes those of all processing mills.

2) Number of enterprises, installed capacity and employees of veneer mills include those of plywood mills.

3) Number of employees of logging includes those of sawmills.

4) Installed capacity and number of employees of veneer mills include those of plywood mills and others.

Source: ITTO 1995b. Annual review and assessment of the world tropical timber situation 1993-4.


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