Indonesia’s forestry based industries are celebrating a government decision to increase the logging quota next year to help satisfy the local industry’s production capacity and create jobs.
The quota could be expanded by around 30% to 11 million m3 from the current 8.4 million m3.
The quota will include some 8.1 million m3 of timber felled from natural forests, with the remaining 2.9 million coming from industrial plantations.
The aim is to give the country’s forest-based industries a boost and take foreign exchange earnings up to US8bn next year from a projected US5bn this year.
Malam Sambat Kaban, the minister of forestry, is expecting protests from environmentalists but said that reducing the logging quota would not curb illegal logging. He said the low quota had prompted most forest based companies to seek illegal timber to keep their operations going.
The forest based industry currently has an installed capacity of about 42 million m3 a year, and Mr Kaban said he would force forestry based companies that are underperforming to merge or sell their shares to healthier companies to ensure maximum use of forestry concessions.
