Forestry exports take steep drop
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Forestry export value has sharply dropped, according to the Ministry of Commerce's data. The data showed that from April 1 to May 9, the combined export value by government agencies and private institutions was below US$4 million.
While the government sector reaped $1.287 million from the exports, the private sector saw only $2.478 million. In the same period last year, the combined value was as high as $62 million.
As logging exports are banned in the 2014-15 fiscal year, starting from April 1, the export of finished-wood products has been accelerated.
During the 2013-2014 fiscal year, over $947 million was earned from the forest product export sector, as teak log, sawn teak, hardwood log, sawn hardwood, thin wood layers and laminated wood layers, and other forest products were exported.
Forestry products are among key agricultural export products, aside from rice and beans.
The government recently passed a ban on the export of raw timber in a bid to save the country’s remaining forests and encourage more local industry.
Despite the ban, illegal timber trade continues with smugglers finding new routes through the jungle. Some say that recent fighting between ethnic rebels and the army has made it easier to smuggle timber as there are less controls.
The Ministry of Commerce revealed that the export of teak, hardwood and other timber has reached US$947 million in the 2013-14 fiscal year, despite speculation that the actual value could have been higher.
The Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry (MOECAF) revealed recently that more than a thousand tonnes of teak, hardwood and other timbers were seized during a week-long search across States and Regions of Myanmar, including Nay Pyi Taw and Sagaing Region.
Myanmar has suffered from speedy deforestation. In 2006, Myanmar allowed private companies to grow hardwood trees. In six years, they planted 107,453 acres of teak and 46,180 acres of hardwood, according to the ministry.
Yet, annual deforestation in Myanmar amounts to 900,000 acres a year and the country is ranked eighth in the top ten most deforested countries in the world. Widespread degradation of the most densely wooded areas means that so-called “closed forest” more than halved in size, from 30.9 million to 13.4 million hectares.
China recorded importing 10 million cubic metres of round logs from its impoverished neighbour between 2000 and 2013 - almost twice Myanmar’s officially registered global export trade of 6.4 million cubic metres for the period, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) campaign group.
