Timber industry seeking improvement to boost growth
Timber industry seeking improvement to boost growth
The Lao timber processing industry is still suffering from low growth compared to other countries in the region with authorities trying to improve the sector while promoting value added products.
President of the Lao Wood Processing Industry Association, Mr Thongsavanh Soulignamat made the comment at the launch of the first training and development centre for the local wood processing sector.
He said centre would be part of building capacities for timber processing companies on new wood manufacturing technologies as well as input/output monitoring for wood processing and trade.
The centre was established with assistance from the German Development Cooperation to support the Lao- EU-FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade) FLEGT process, implemented by GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer International Zusammenarbeit).
�The Lao wood processing industry still needs to improve not only its technology but also its workers' skills and enhance timber product quality and standards to address industry competition in the region,� Mr Thongsavanh said.
He added the local wood processing industry had been largely restricted to primary processing and mainly exported logs, sawn timber and semi-finished products to neighbouring countries.
Only a limited number of companies have been active in downstream processing, therefore value-adding generated by the local industry is extremely low.
He commended Prime Minister's Order No.15, which the association was now using as a mechanism to empower and modernise the domestic timber sector, which would ensure value-added and quality timber products met domestic and international market demand.
Director General of Department of Industry and Handicraft of Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Mr Manohack Rasachack said modernisation of the Lao wood processing industry was the way forward to ensure effective use of forest resources, increase timber product exports, create job opportunities and boost state income.
To strengthen domestic and international competitiveness, especially for European and other western markets, the government has identified the voluntary partnership and bilateral trade agreement between Laos and EU as an important requirements.
However, senior international adviser to the German Development Cooperation project, Mr Heiko Woerner explained the introduction of the Chain of Custody System would not only serve to show the legality of timber and timber flows, but also provide additional advantages for companies' performance.
This includes improved efficiency as relevant data of input and output quantities per job order per batch will be used for better production management.
This would help drive sustainable growth in the Lao wood processing industry, he added.
