It has set an ambitious target of US$5.5bn, far ahead of the US$2bn reported last year. However, ViForest concedes the industry is facing several challenges.
“The key problem will be increasing the supply of locally grown timber and raising processing capabilities,” a spokesman said. “Only a handful of companies can export 100 containers of timber products a month while only a few farmers have been allocated more than 10ha for planting.”
During the past five years the industry has grown 30-40% and last year spent US$1bn importing machinery and raw materials, ViForest said.
