The West African timber industries have always had their ups and downs and the year 2000 was no different from past years, though there are more ups than downs to report – at least in terms of a more settled overall situation, if not in terms of prices.
In fact, African producers and exporters did manage to hold their prices remarkably steady, in spite of sustained downwards pressure from the now very influential Far East buyers.
Down was Cote d’Ivoire where serious political problems added to the long-term decline in availability of raw wood input to feed the processing mills – a wood shortage which is unlikely to improve, ever.
On the up side, production from Liberia continued a steady increase, exporting logs destined mainly for French buyers, with Niangon as a firm favourite.
The end of the civil war in Congo Brazzaville has triggered a resumption of log exporting from the south through Point Noire. Even during the years of unrest, production in the north continued and logs were, and still are, being transported around 1,000km by road for export through Douala port in Cameroon. The high grade sapele, moabi and sipo logs replaced the previous exports of these species from Cameroon itself which banned some 20 of the premier timber species from being exported as logs. No figures are yet available on the resumed Pointe Noire operations but some 200,000m³ of Congo Brazzaville logs were exported through Douala.
Sawmills also are back in full operation producing sapele, sipo and other redwoods, and even okumé lumber for European markets.
New markets
Gabon is the major producer of okumé and log exports have reached around 2.2 million m³ for 2000, with by far the largest volumes going to Far East markets, People’s Republic of China, Korea, Malaysia and Philippines. Greece is also buying peeler species. The Société National des Bois (SNBG) has been making strong efforts in recent years to diversify the market spread and, while not neglecting the declining volumes of the higher quality okumé to the traditional French market, the Netherlands and other European buyers, the newer buyers in the Far East and now India are able to take lower grades and also increased exports, around 600,000m³ of logs of Bois Divers, mixed redwoods a year.
Another success has been the promotion of okumé and ozigo sawn lumber. Markets for these are now established in Italy, South Africa, Portugal, France, Germany and the Netherlands. These species are to some extent replacing meranti/seraya and even ayous for interior joinery at lower cost for mild textured and easily worked lumber.
The African based Malaysian producers also are working on export standards for the European markets as well as looking to cater for the large volumes of lower quality lumber imported into the Philippines, Thailand and China.
Malaysian timber companies are beginning to take control of production in Equatorial Guinea and, though the okumé from this country is not quite the same fine texture as that from Gabon, log exports are now over 1 million m³ per year. Other export log species are azobe, tali, bilinga, ovangkol, iroko, douka and moabi. As well, a small but steadily increasing sawn lumber production is moving up to exports of 500m³ per month. Peeler veneer exports are expected to increase with new mills under construction.
The ‘new’ Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) also reports resumed formal production of redwood logs and some sawn lumber. Logs have been exported to France and Portugal through the port of Matadi but no volume figures are yet available.
Cameroon producers had been hoping the government would relax the total ban on log exports of primary species such as sapele and sipo, possibly through introducing a quota system, but this did not eventuate and the 20 or so primary species can be exported only when sawn or further processed. The policy was introduced as part of a World Bank/IMF package of debt relief criteria and, in the event, has been highly successful, stimulating sawmill expansion and new construction and resulting in sawn lumber production now reaching past 500,000m³ per year.
The debt relief of US$2bn over the next 10-12 years has now been approved.
The extra lumber exports did affect some prices with sapele falling to FFr2,200/m³ fob for major buyers in Spain. Sipo also took a price reduction but other species held fairly stable, though ayous has come under pressure in the traditional Italian market because of the new competition from okumé and ozigo lumber.
For Cameroon log exports, producers were able to hold most prices steady – in spite of the quite substantial fall in Far East log prices. This fall was caused mainly through very poor plywood markets and the consequent heavy drop in plywood prices for Indonesian and Malaysian production. In Europe, the Netherlands had overbought azobe and bilinga. The market became very depressed, though fortunately was compensated by increased demand from Far East buyers for azobe, bilinga and tali. This helped to keep prices relatively steady for these and the peeler species to major buyers in China, Korea and even Japan.
There has also been an upsurge in production of sawn lumber in azobe which also helped to keep prices stable.
There were strong complaints to the Cameroon government and grumbles over the introduction of truck weighing, which halted overloading but which effectively added to the costs that producers had to absorb.
The market for export logs of the primary species has been taken over largely by Central African Republic (CER), Congo Brazzaville and the Bois Divers from Gabon.
The landlocked CER exports logs over the port of Douala, a distance by road of 800-900km. The cost of this can be justified only on high grades of logs and some prime quality sapele and sipo sawn lumber, the latter adding further pressure on sapele export prices.
Political change
Ghana has a new president, John Kufour. Many potential investors have been awaiting the outcome of the December election and will now wish to see how the New Patriotic Party government will tackle the economic difficulties that plagued the previous National Democratic Congress government which saw a substantial fall in the value of the Ghana cedi. On the plus side, Ghana lumber export prices have bucked the trend and there have been some measurable increases since October last year, possibly assisted by pricing in deutschmarks rather than US dollars and by the continued efforts of Ghana’s Timber Export Development Division. Sawn lumber prices are reported to have risen from DM50 to as much as DM300/m³ over the past three months and remained steady through December and into the new year – a traditionally slow period in Europe.
Interestingly, Ghana has a well established and successful trade in the export of boules. In contrast, when Cameroon banned log exports in primary species, producers and buyers took to exports of sawn through-and-through boules. However, problems of sawing and mis-measurement led to such a spate of complaints and claims that the business was halted almost immediately.
Kiln-dried exports
Another success for Ghana’s forest policy was the long struggle to induce exports of kiln-dried rather than green or air-dried sawn lumber. The export volume of kiln-dried lumber is now approaching double that of air-dried. ‘Perseverance brings success’ could well be Ghana’s forest policy motto.
A current United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) project is examining the prospects for using bamboo as the basis for a new, ecologically sound industry in the timber sector. A UNIDO sponsored delegation from Ghana recently visited China to inspect bamboo plantation growing and then processing into major products of laminated boards and flooring. Ghana has natural resources of bamboo growing wild and delegates returned full of enthusiasm and hopes that this could be used to provide employment in rural areas and create a new export industry.
Developments in West Africa’s timber industries can best be described as very positive and, while no one is predicting more than stable prices and steady volumes for the coming months, the governments’ policies and the major investors from Europe and the Far East in the larger exporting countries do seem to have pushed and prodded industry into a stronger and more stable trade environment.
