In December 2007, the Tokyo chapter of the Japan Southsea Lumber Conference met to discuss the current state of the market.
The chairperson of the Conference noted that 2007 had been a ‘troubling year’ for the market and participants noted the problems associated with transport of Southsea lumber and logs from Sarawak.
One participant explained the ongoing problems with negotiations associated with
ships belonging to the Southsea Lumber Transport Agreement (NFA), the Japan Lumber Journal reported. As a result of the situation, it was
noted that imports had been on only 7-8 ships and reached about 70,000 m³ per month since October 2007, representing the lowest imported volume of the year. The participant also suggested that log importers were
somewhat anxious about being able to provide a stable supply of logs to plywood manufacturers given the shipping situation.
Regarding prices, some participants noted that there was a
slump in log prices. Others suggested that the high prices
demanded by suppliers made it difficult to obtain logs
from Malaysia, especially keruing logs. As a result of the
monsoons in Malaysia, prices had been high since cutting
of logs was low.
The total amount of logs received from January to October
2007 was 883,000 m³, a 22% decrease from the same
period in 2006. The amount of Southsea lumber imports
for January to November was 417,800 m³, a 11.8% fall
from the previous year. This drop was attributed to the
significant lack of lauan planks imported. In addition, the
sluggishness of domestic sales was also noted, a trend
which began in midway until the end of 2007.
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