KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — The Sabah government’s proposal to halt the export of timber logs would undermine the value of the state’s forests and harm the local economy, the Timber Association of Sabah (TAS) asserted today.

Commenting on a Malay Mail report of state lawmakers and industry players supporting the proposal, TAS said forest derivatives were one of the state’s main sources of employment and revenue.

It said limiting timber traders to local buyers would drive down demand and hobble the industry.

"Forcing forest managers to sell at a lower price than can be found on the open market is equivalent to devaluing Sabah’s natural resources and sends the wrong signal to the downstream industry.

"Instead of forcing them to modernise and grow their marketing channels, they now expect the government to bail them out,” the association said in a statement.

TAS also disputed Sabah Timber Industries Association (STIA) president Datuk James Hwong who said Sabah exported between 200,000 and 300,000 tonnes of logs to countries such as China, Japan, Philippines and India annually.

It said both its own figures and that of the Sabah Forest Department showed that exports were half what Hwong asserted.

"Further, the figures show that round log exports make up less than 18% of total round log production, the rest of the more than 80 per cent goes to the domestic downstream processing into mainly plywood and sawn timber.”

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal proposed the timber export ban ostensibly to control deforestation that he blamed for the state’s flooding problems.